Cold Bodies
by seraphim2db
Summary: After so many years of diverting disaster there's finally an apocalypse that Buffy couldn't stop. Grabbing what little possessions she has left, her and Dawn must survive in a world filled with the walking dead.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the vampire Slayer or any of it's characters just the ones that I create. This is also rated M for violence and death.

Prologue

Interstate 101 Highway

The Outskirts of Sunnydale

The abandoned highway was littered with burnt out cars and trucks. Each one seemed weathered and aged, letting one know that what happened here happened a while ago. Thankfully in our dimension we missed the apocalypse.

A strong heat wave was being kicked off of the asphalt and through it a small Honda Civic, slowly emerged. As it's driver stopped the car and looked around, she saw the local tv station that was on the edge of town. The lush grass and flowerbed that used to spell out the station name was long since dead. The sprinkler system choked with sand.

Pulling the car into the abandoned parking lot, the pretty blond slowly got out and smelled the air. Mmmm it smells like freshly cut grass and death. She thought to herself as she pulled up her shades and looked to her companion. Dawn's face was caked with sand and dirt and she knew that her own face couldn't have looked any better since they hadn't bathed in nearly two days. "Dawn, stay here." Buffy ordered. "I'll be back in a second after I check this place out for supplies."

"Buffy, I'm not a kid." Dawn whined. "You remember how we were trained. The both of us should sweep this place together."

Giving her little sister a long hard look, for the first time ever Buffy decided not to argue with her. She had to admit that the younger girl was right though. In the world they found themselves in now, especially by themselves, she couldn't afford to treat her like a little girl anymore or they could end up dead. God only knew that she wouldn't be around forever to protect her.

Shaking that last thought out of her mind, Buffy nodded her head. "Come on, let's make this quick." Happily getting out of the car, because she had gotten her way, Dawn nearly ran to the station. Matching her stride, Buffy put her hand on her shoulder and gave her a frown. Only fools rush in.

Staring back at the station, she saw that it was boarded up, and riddled with bullet holes and burn marks. It showed signs of a desperate fight but showed no signs of life. Taking a step forward, Buffy peered through the big opened window and saw nothing but darkness. Using the tip of her gun, she loudly tapped on the glass. After a full minute of waiting and not seeing a walker come up to the window, Buffy headed to the door, Dawn on her heel.

There was little natural light in the building, because the windows were all boarded up in defense against the undead. The station however clearly had it's own generator as there were electric lights working inside. Many of them were smashed however, and the generator was slowly dying, causing the lights to pulse and dim. As a result the interior was alive with shadows that crept and grew.

Going around a corner, they saw a stairwell leading down to a darkened basement. Giving each other a look and then back at the inky darkness that held untold dangers, they both cracked a grin. There was no way in hell they were going down there. Turning they decided to split up and go down opposite halls. Whispering to Dawn to yell out if she found herself in trouble, Buffy disappeared around the corner. If she was going to trust Dawn to be on her own it was now or never. Drawing her weapon of choice, a Colt M1911, she headed deeper into the station.

As her sister walked away from her, Dawn steeled herself and went the opposite direction. She knew how to blow someone or something's muffin cap back and she'd do it if she had too.

* * *

Buffy crossed the abandoned news studio and the place was a mess. Posters promoting new up and coming stars, still hung on the walls but were smeared with blood. This wasn't a smart place to be. It was claustrophobic, it was dark and anything could be hiding in here.

Overlooking the studio was a control booth where a director would sit. There were no lights on in the booth, but Buffy sensed a figure up there, watching through the glass. Pulling the slide back on her Colt, she took the stairs leading up to the room.

Walking into the room, a sour smell hit her nose, but she kept moving. Approaching the figure, she saw that it was sitting in a high backed chair, hunched over the control panel. The figure didn't move, but seemed to be muttering to itself. Approaching cautiously, her hand reached for the back of the swivel chair and as she turned it, saw a body, long since dead.

With a look of sadness, she saw a shotgun still gripped between his hands. It seemed that he took the preferred method of ending his own life rather then accepting and fighting through what life was now. The barrel of the gun rested in what remained of his mouth and looking behind him, she saw one of the TV screens playing an endless loop of old news footage. Figuring that that's what she heard when she came in, she stared at the body again and saw it's name tag that read Hank Chimley.

Thinking briefly about her father, since the two men shared the same first name, she picked up a notebook beside the body. It was a journal of some kind. Putting it in her backpack, she went through the mans pocket and pulled out a few spare shotgun cartridges and pocketed them. With one last look at Hank, she took the shotgun and walked out of the room.

* * *

Dawn shook with fear as she walked into the room and saw three naked men, with their backs to her, standing in a dark corner. All three of them were tall, bald, and had ghostly white skin. Taking a step back, to get out of there, her foot suddenly hit an empty can.

Hearing the noise, the three things turned around as one, and Dawn stared open mouthed at their faces. What little light there was, glinted off the glass in the room, making it briefly light up and show her more details of what she was seeing. These things lips drew back to reveal crooked, chipped but wickedly sharp teeth. Teeth stained with blood. They had glowing red eyes that bled and their faces seemed to be something demonic, almost like a vampire. But they couldn't be vampires. They had to be something else.

"Ummm... sorry, I disturbed you." Dawn whispered making them hiss at her. Weighing her options there was only one thing that she could do. "Buffy!" she yelled out as she turned and ran for her life, the things in hot pursuit. "Buffy!"

Dawn raced around a corner with the three Night Stalker zombies in close pursuit. She took another corner and then another, but her pursuers were gaining with every turn. She slid under a half fallen bookshelf and out of a door before closing it but the things burst through it like toilet paper.

Dawn was just moments away from being caught as she rounded another corner. As the vampiric zombies followed a split second later, they saw the little girl standing behind her big sister, who had her shotgun drawn.

"Naked zombies." Buffy quipped as she aimed her shotgun higher. "That's new."

With that said she opened fire and the deadly spray of lead tore into the flesh of the undead and as Buffy fired again and again she heard a distant clap of thunder.

A/N I hope you guys are in for some scares and some surprises.


	2. Chapter 1 Rainy Days Gone By

A/N Thanks for those reviews everyone. Also, Allen I sent you a pm a few days ago answering your questions. Did you get it?

Chapter 1

Rainy Days Gone By

Two petite figures wearing military fatigues, shades, and green camouflage hats slowly trekked through the hot sun of the desolate California desert. It had rained just yesterday and they had hoped that it would cool things down but no such luck. After what had happened at the tv station they didn't dare seek refuge inside of it from the rain, instead choosing to sleep in the car. Those things... those zombie vampires had put up more of a fight then she thought they would. If she hadn't of blown their heads off, which dusted them, they would have kept coming for her and Dawn.

Buffy only wished that she had of paid more attention to the gas tank as the following day when they left, the car ran out of gas after a couple of minutes of driving, forcing them to have to walk now.

While they walked it forced both of them to think. They had just lost everything after giving so much to keep the world together. As the blond stopped for a moment to adjust her backpack, she thought about how for over five years she had stopped apocalypse after apocalypse from vampires and all manners of icky things only for the world to finally end at the hands or rather the teeth of zombies.

She had lost everything in the blink of an eye, but she took great satisfaction in knowing that at least her mom was somewhere happy and didn't have to suffer through this. Her grin faded a moment later as she thought about how she had lost all of her friends. Giles, Tara, Willow, Xander, Anya, and even Spike were all gone. She could only hope that Riley and Angel had somehow survived and she wished that Glory were dead so she'd never have to face her again. Looking back to her companion, she was happy that she was able to save someone, even though she had almost lost her too.

When the zombies had finally come for them and tried to overtake their house all those months ago, she had immediately ran to find her sister and she walked into Dawn's room only to find her in the middle of slitting her wrists. She assumed that her little sister would rather commit suicide, then to be eaten alive.

As her blood flowed from her wrists and onto the floor, a portal opened in her home and before they knew it they were both sucked into it. Buffy would never know where they went or how they got back, but when they did, it was several months after the apocalypse and according to the man that had saved her and Dawn's life, all of her friends had died. She took pride in knowing that at least Willow, Tara, and Spike had survived another three days without her.

When they were thrown out of the portal and back from wherever they had been, they were naked, hungry, and alone. Alone in a house that had several zombies in it. Too weak to defend herself and her sister, Buffy could only watch as the decaying ghouls slowly shambled towards them. If it wasn't for Sgt. Aaron Jones, both young women would be dead right now.

He was an old vet from the Vietnam war and he was scavenging houses in the neighborhood, as they materialized back in their house. After hearing Dawn cry out, he burst through their back door and killed several zombies before getting them out of the house. He had taken them to an underground bunker, he had made, under his house. It was then that she found out that she was back in her old neighborhood and she had lived in said neighborhood for five years, not knowing his name or that he even lived several houses down from them. After feeding and clothing them, it was then that he regretfully told them that all of her friends were dead. He had seen as human zombies and demon ones had ransacked her house and he could only watch as her friends got eviscerated. He could have sworn that he had seen two people escape in a red truck, but he couldn't be sure.

Not having any real time to mourn them, Buffy had to concentrate on surviving. They had lived with Sgt. Jones for several weeks and he had trained the both of them on how to use guns, to properly scavenge, and military strategy. Basically he trained them on how to be soldiers. Buffy originally didn't want Dawn to learn how to use guns, hell she didn't want to use guns, but in the world they now found themselves in, all innocence was lost and it was either adapt or perish.

Perish. Buffy thought grimly to herself. That's what Mr. Jones did. He got bit about a week ago, saving Dawn from a few walkers. She had come into his room, to be with him for the last few moments of his life, only to find him gone. She found a letter on his bunk saying that he didn't regret what happened and that he wanted her to have his Colt M1911, that she found on his dresser. He had wanted to pass the gun down to his son but the both of them had been estranged for years. According to the letter, it didn't really matter because he was glad to have known her and Dawn because they were the daughters that he never had.

Openly weeping, Buffy had used her new found ability that he had taught her to track him down. When she did, she found him ripped open in the middle of the Sunnydale street with over twenty dead walkers scattered around him. It was his last gift to the world. Putting a bullet in his brain, to keep him from coming back, she went back to the bunker and gathered up Dawn, some weapons, and what little food and water they had. There wasn't much left in the city, so it was time to move on. Taking a look down at the gun that was on her hip, she would forever remember what she had lost.

"Buffy, look!" Dawn shouted, snapping her big sister out of her dark reverie.

In the distance a merciless sun beat down and gave way to what looked to be a gas station. Squinting her eyes, Buffy saw that it was Ralph's stop and go gas station. "Stay here." Buffy ordered as she dropped her backpack, gathered a small red fuel canister, and took out her gun.

She walked around amid overturned vehicles and trash laying everywhere. Feeling a sense of dread she clutched the small fuel tank in her hand, hoping that she could find some fuel for the car they had left a few miles back. Slowly she walked past several vehicles where decomposing dead people sat in their cars with flies buzzing around them. Looking closer, she dropped her guard slightly as she saw that their heads were slashed open with what looked to be an ax.

As she walked towards the gas station, she saw that the sign said 'No Gas'. With a roll of her eyes, she started to walk back towards Dawn when her foot suddenly hit something. Putting the canister down, she reached to the ground and picked up a beer bottle filled with water. With a frown she looked from the clean bottle to the dead corpses and she could only assume that someone was here recently. It was more then confirmed for her as she saw a pile of freshly burnt bodies by the side of the building.

Chancing a glance at Dawn, who was waiting for her out on the street, she suddenly heard footsteps somewhere behind her. Quickly putting the bottle down, she kneeled down on the hot asphault and looked under a car. With wide eyes, she saw a small girl walking toward a teddy bear. She was in a night gown and some slippers and as the girl picked up the bear she started to walk away.

"Hey kid?" Buffy said in a half whisper as she stood to her feet. "I'm Buffy. Little girl." as Buffy called for her again the little girl finally stopped walking. "Don't be afraid. Okay? Well you should be a little afraid if you're out here by yourself but I'm here now and..."

Buffy's mouth dropped open and she went quiet as the girl turned around. She was a walker with missing parts of her cheek. As she started to shuffle towards Buffy and groaned, the Slayer nervously back-peddled before the dead girl could get to her. With numb fingers, Buffy drew her pistol and fired, the bullet ripping through the little girls head. As she fell down dead, Buffy could only look at her body in shock.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled from the distance.

"Every... everything's okay!" Buffy shouted back as she took a quick look around. Reaching out with her Slayer senses, she no longer felt any danger. "It's safe to come down now. Bring my backpack with you!"

Hearing her sister shuffling, Buffy looked down at the bottle of water again. If someone had been to this gas station recently, she hoped to be able to find them soon.

A/N To let everyone know what time frame this is based around, before Buffy and Dawn fell through that portal I mentioned it took place sometime after the episode Forever. Also I hope you guys stay with me on this fic. It's going to start a little slow but believe me it's going to heat up really soon.


	3. Chapter 2 Cockroaches and Twinkies

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys and a special thanks to Scifiromance. To Allen, if I ever get around to it I'm going to write a separate story for Faith and how she's dealing with this apocalypse. The whole thing about the red truck and the two that escaped will lead to something later in this story. Anyway, enjoy.

Chapter 2

Cockroaches and Twinkies

Buffy and Dawn spent most of the day checking all of the vehicles for gas or any supplies they could use. Whoever had come before them had pretty much picked the cars and trucks of anything useful that they could use to survive. They did however find a few loose bullets, a knife sharpener, a fishing reel, a fire starter, and a few packs of cigarettes. If she had been in this situation years ago, she would have tossed the cigarettes, but because of Sgt. Jones' survival training, she learned that tobacco could be used for insect bites, open wounds, and a few other things. She could also use the cigarettes filters to drink from water sources that she didn't know much about. It seemed that Aaron had saved them yet again.

It had started to get late in the day so Buffy had decided to spend the night in the gas station. Putting their gear away and gathering a few sleeping bags out of a car, Dawn made a pallet on the floor as Buffy got what little food they had so they could eat. Seeing a barrel already in the room, Buffy gathered some wood she found outside and used the fire starter to make a fire. Seeing a metal basket on the floor she bent and contorted it until it could be used as a grill. As the food started to get ready, Buffy did a brief search of the place and found out two things. One this place showed signs that it was very recently occupied and two she found a small box of Twinkies behind the register.

Having a random thought, she reached into the back of her camo military fatigues and pulled out a photograph of her family (Xander, Giles, herself, and Willow) on a nice sunny day in a park. It was such a peaceful day with no demons or vampires, just the gang enjoying themselves. No longer paying attention and caught in that moment, she was unprepared as Dawn snatched the box of Twinkies out of her hands.

"Hey!" Buffy barked loudly, yet playfully. "I was going to share."

Ignoring her older sister, Dawn just laughed. "I can't believe it." she said through a fit of chuckles. "He was right."

"Are you going to let me in on the joke?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Now what are you laughing about? Who was right?"

"Xander." Dawn replied with a toothy grin. As she said his name out loud however, her smile faded. "He... he told me that if the apocalypse ever happened all that would be left were cockroaches and Twinkies and he was right."

That's Xander. Buffy thought to herself with a smile as she reached out and touched Dawn on the cheek. "He wasn't totally right though. We're still here."

"Yeah." Dawn replied glumly as she turned away from her sisters hand. "Nowadays it seems like it's just us."

Buffy wanted to tell her then that maybe they were trailing behind someone but she decided to keep her mouth shut on the subject, especially since she knew her sister felt guilty about Sgt. Jones' death.

"Hey our food is almost done." Buffy said with a reluctant smile. "Let's dig in."

As she said that, they both heard a squeak coming from Dawn's backpack that startled them both. Her heart coming down to a normal pace, Dawn smiled as she reached into her pack and pulled out a mouse.

"Don't worry, Amy." Dawn told the mouse as it softly squeaked in her face. "We're going to feed you too." as she said that, the mouse got on her shoulder as she looked over at Buffy. The mouse had been Willow's and when the red headed witch came over at Buffy's house she had brought Amy with her. When Dawn slit her wrists the mouse had somehow gotten out of her cage and had went with them, where ever the portal dropped them off at. One thing always bothered her about the mouse though. It was something that Dawn just had to know. "Buffy why did Willow name her mouse Amy?"

"Because she's not a mouse." Buffy replied as she gave the furry critter a sad smile. "She's a girl that we went to high school with."

"Oh, ha, ha, ha Buffy." Dawn replied as the mouse squeaked again. "That's very funny."

"After all that's happened to us in Sunnydale and the dead walking around; a girl being turned into a mouse is the one thing that you think is impossible?" Buffy asked with wide eyes.

"You... you mean..."

"Yes... Amy is... well was a person." Buffy confirmed. "I think you two might've met a couple of times when she was human. Anyway, she was a girl that made a mistake. Hey maybe we can get her one of those little wheel thingies when we get settled somewhere."

"Yeah." Dawn told her as she stared in fascination at Amy.

In classic Buffy fashion, portions of the food were burnt, but being so used to it by now, Dawn and even Amy didn't complain and just ate around it. As they finished up their food and started to get settled in to sleep, Dawn put Amy away but she had another question to ask.

"Where do we go from here?"

After a few seconds of blinking and thinking, Buffy hunched up her shoulders. "I don't know."

"Well don't you think we should go to, L.A.?" Dawn asked as she turned around and looked up at her from the floor. "You know... to see if Angel can help us."

"It's been over six months Dawnie." Buffy replied with a pained expression on her face. "I don't think that Angel is still there anymore." It was so weird because her and Angel had always had some kind of connection but since coming back to Earth, she felt nothing.

Moving her arm back, Buffy's hand suddenly brushed up against some paper. Picking it up she saw that it was a map with two different locations circled on it. Before she had time to analyze it, Dawn snatched it out of her hands.

"You know that's getting more then a little annoying." Buffy whined as her little sister stared intently at the map.

"I guess this answers where we should go from here." Dawn mumbled more to herself, then to the blond.

"What do you mean?"

"Well according to this map there's a place called Frazier Park not that far from here." Dawn said as she looked at it again. "Well it's far since we have to walk."

"I think we should go to, Acton."

"What! Why?" Dawn asked with wide eyes. "That's too far away."

"But, I've been to Acton before." Buffy replied thinking back on memories long past. "Dad took me there once when I was little. It was kinda like one of those old western shows he used to watch all of the time. God, I hated that place."

Dawn smiled to herself, as she let her sister get lost in her seemingly happy memory. A memory that she wasn't apart of because she wasn't born yet or rather wasn't placed in the Slayer's life yet. Not letting that fact bother her, she shook her head and looked at her sister look at her. "I still don't understand. Why do you want to go there?"

"Because, I'm familiar with Acton for one." Buffy told her as that little piece of happy memory faded away. "And it's close to L.A. so we'll be able to run there for supplies if we need too." Before Dawn could try to argue with her, Buffy continued. "Come on, let's get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us. I don't know how we're going to get to Acton but we'll get there."

Knowing that she couldn't do anything to change her mind, Dawn sighed before starting to clear away their gear. Checking out of the door and into the night, Buffy didn't sense anything lurking around. Being thankful for at least that moment of peace, she closed the door and laid down on a pallet next to her sister. For the first time in a long time Buffy quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Jerking herself awake, Buffy sat bolt right up off of her pallet and groggily took a look around at her surroundings. Trying to make sense of what was missing, it hit her in a flash.

"Dawn!" she yelled out frantically as she stood to her feet. "Dawn!" she yelled out again. Hearing what sounded like a motorcycle engine revving up, she looked up and saw that the front door was open. Running for it, she followed the noise to behind the gas station and saw Dawn working on a motorcycle.

"Oh God, you startled me!" Dawn yelped as her hand dropped from her gun. "What were you thinking sneaking up on me like that?" Not saying anything, Buffy walked over and gave her sister a hug. "Eww, you smell."

"You don't smell like roses yourself." Buffy quipped. "Now what are you out here doing?"

"Duh, I'm trying to fix this motorcycle." Dawn replied holding up her tools. Seeing that her sister was looking at her like she was crazy, she rolled her eyes. "I took auto mechanics when I was in school. God you never did pay attention to me did you?" deflated she turned back to her work.

Feeling guilty and like a butt head, Buffy suddenly put her hand on her sisters shoulder. "So... do you really think you can fix this thing?"

"Yeah." Dawn replied off offhandedly. She would have rather tried to fix on one of the cars but none of them had any gas. Only the motorcycle had half a tank. "If, I remember everything I was taught, this should take another thirty minutes."

"Good... that's good." Buffy replied and not really knowing what else to say added. "I believe in you. I'll go and get our stuff."

Grumbling under her breath, Dawn watched her big sister walk off.

* * *

Gathering the last of their supplies together, Buffy heard the bell over the door ring. "Dawn that was fast." she commented, as she suddenly smelled something rotten. Turning around, she saw that it was a walker that had shuffled into the room.

With wide eyes, Buffy ran forward and drop-kicked it in the chest, sending it down to the ground. Reaching into her waist band, she pulled out a bowie knife and stabbed it in the head. Hearing the bell again, she saw Dawn frantically running into the store and then jump a little as she saw the dead zombie on the ground.

"Dawn what's wrong?" Buffy asked as she stood to her feet.

"We're being surrounded."

"What?" the Slayer asked as she looked out of the door and saw over a dozen zombies headed their way. "Shit!" the petite blond shouted out.

"Buffy what are we going to do?" Dawn asked as Buffy locked the door. They had limited ammo, since they had to ditch their car which had their main weapons, and with one bite they were through. Taking a look around, Buffy suddenly looked up to the ceiling and smiled. "Get down!" she yelled out as she grabbed her sawed off shotgun and blasted it up in the air twice. The deadly blasts opened up an already structurally compromised ceiling and the sunshine from above shone down on them like a beacon of hope.

Looking back to the glass door, Buffy heard it cracking from the combined weight of the ghouls pressing on it. With wide eyes, she watched as one of the dead picked up a rock and started to pound on the door.

So these bastards are starting to learn. Buffy thought loosely to herself.

"Buffy what are we going to..." Before Dawn could finish asking her question, Buffy picked up their bags and threw them, with little effort, out of the gaping hole. Looking back to her sister, Dawn gulped as Buffy tucked away her double barreled shotgun and grabbed her around the waist. "Buffy no...!" it was too late as the blond then threw her up in the air, where she disappeared through the gaping hole.

Again looking towards the door, Buffy saw that they had torn it off of it's hinges and were now slowly shuffling into the room. "Not today." she whispered with a grin as she squatted down and leaped into the air and out of the hole.

As she landed on the roof, she saw Dawn making sure that Amy was okay before looking over the edge of the building. "There's a few of them on the far right of the building." Dawn said as she looked back to her older sibling.

"Did you fix the motorcycle?"

"Yeah. It has half a tank of gas but who knows how far that'll get us."

"Hopefully, far enough." Buffy mumbled as she gently, well as gently as possible threw the bags over the side. Seeing that her sister was nervous for the jump, Buffy didn't have time to try to coach her to go so she snatched her up in her arms and jumped over the side of the building with her.

Maybe it was a temporary weakness from malnutrition, mixed with the added weight of Dawn or maybe it was just fate, but as Buffy hit the ground she also fell over and hit her head on the side of the motorcycle, dropping Dawn in the process.

Quickly scrambling to her feet, Dawn was by her sisters side and saw that she was unconscious. Hearing guttural growling, she looked up to see walkers coming around the corner. Glancing back at the motorcycle, she knew that she could make a run for it but there was no way she was leaving her sister behind.

Taking out her gun, Dawn fired off a round that hit one of the monsters in the neck, sending a spray of viscera in the air. Not slowing his stride, the ones behind it redoubled their effort to get to her. Quickly wiping the sweat off of her hands, she closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. She wasn't as good as Buffy with weapons but she would use what Aaron had taught her. Opening her eyes, she didn't even aim as she fired off a round that slammed into the forehead of a zombie that was getting too close.

Firing off a few more rounds, the number of zombies became to great and as fate would have it, her gun jammed. With tears in her eyes, she took one last look at her sister and with the words sorry on her lips, closed her eyes to accept her fate. She could easily outrun the zombies but there was no way she could leave Buffy. They would just have to die together. It was a fate of death that would have to wait another day. Hearing the blare of a cars horn, she opened her eyes just in time to see an old pickup truck, with wooden stakes mounted on top of it, slam into a group of the dead.

Heart pounding she watched as a tall bald headed black man, probably around her sisters age, got out of the truck with a silver battle ax. As he walked towards her, he expertly lobbed the heads off of several of the dead.

"Get in my truck!" the man ordered as several of the dead turned their attention to him.

"Bu... but my sister!" Dawn yelled back even as she stood to her feet and gathered up their gear.

"I got her." he replied as he chopped into a zombie's head all the way down to the base of it's neck. "Just go!"

Using all the strength she could muster, Dawn grabbed both of the backpacks and tossed them into the truck. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the man kick a zombie in the chest before reaching down and gathering up Buffy. Making a run for the truck, he placed Buffy in it as gently as he could before hopping in himself and slamming the door, the zombies clawing madly after him.

Putting the truck in reverse, the black youth drove out onto the street and away from the sea of the dead that now seemed to converge on where they just were.

"I heard gunshots when I was driving by to look for supplies." the black man started as he swerved around the broken down cars. "What the hell were you two doing out here? Don't y'all know that this is a dead zone?"

"We... we didn't know." Dawn stuttered.

"Gunn." the black man said after a few minutes of driving.

"But... but I need my gun." Dawn replied not understanding what he meant.

"No... my name is Gunn and that's with two n's so don't forget it."

"O...okay." the younger girl replied nervously. "My name is Dawn and... and this is my sister Buffy."

"Buffy... Buffy the vampire slayer?" Gunn asked taking his eyes off of the road for a second to look at her.

"How do you... how do you know my sister?"

"Because I worked with her ex." Gunn replied as Dawn gave him a hard look.

He looked like he could've been in the military but then again he didn't. Remembering what Aaron had taught her about observing her surroundings, she looked around the cab of the truck and she saw a dirtied white business card with what looked to be a picture of a lobster on it. Looking at the name on it instead, she saw the vampire with a soul's name on it.

"You know Angel? Is he..." with one hard look from her companion, her unasked question was answered.

Probably from hearing Angel's name, Buffy started to groggily move around in her unconsciousness. "Easy beauty queen, we'll be somewhere safe in a minute." Gunn said putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Where... where are we going anyway?" Dawn asked, not believing that she had forgot to ask that anyway.

"Hotel California." Gunn replied with the first genuine smile he'd probably had all day.

A/N Please review


	4. Chapter 3 A Lily In The Valley

A/N Thanks for those reviews everyone. To Allen, I thought it would be funny to add something as little as those business cards to the story. Also thanks to Angel's girl and Noah for reviewing. To Noah, yes there will be a big bad in this story. Just keep reading and reviewing and you'll see who it's going to be.

Chapter 3

A Lily in the Valley

The white sun beat down on the rocky terrain. There wasn't a cloud in the blue sky and the wind seemed to be at a standstill. Far in the distance, Gunn's truck finally made its way to the entrance of a decent sized motor inn that Dawn guessed he had named Hotel California.

It had a brick gate surrounding it and two large dumpsters that were now being removed from the opening of said gate. In her opinion it was easily defendable from walkers. As Gunn drove past the opening gate, Dawn looked back at the men who were pushing the dumpsters back in front of the opening and upon hearing a noise she looked up to see two vultures perched on a barren tree, watching them from across the street.

Pushing the ominous feeling she had down in the pit of her stomach, Dawn watched as Gunn chose a parking space and shut off his truck.

"Yo dog, please tell me you got some gas?" one of the men who was watching the gate asked as Gunn hopped out of the truck. He was a mousy looking Latino teen that looked to be an inch taller then Dawn.

"Naw I didn't." Gunn replied with a sigh.

"Do you know how mad Gwen is going to be?"

"You let me worry about her." Gunn said as he reached into the truck and took Buffy into his arms. "Tell Anne to meet me in the infirmary. We have some... guests." with that said the teen scampered off. "Come on kid." Gunn ordered as Dawn fell into step behind him.

Taking a look around as they walked, Dawn saw people of all ages and sizes come out of their rooms silently watching them. Not meeting their gaze, she redoubled her efforts to keep up with Gunn. Walking into the infirmary, Dawn saw that it was nothing more then the check in room for the inn. Several first aid kits and bandages littered the floor and moving past them all, Gunn gently laid Buffy down on a cot.

Almost as soon as the Slayer's head hit the soft pillow, she started to rouse. "God, what hit me?" Buffy asked as she sat up in bed, Dawn instantly at her side. "Dawnie where are we... who are you?" she asked as she looked up and saw Gunn.

"Relax Buffy." Dawn said with a smile. "He saved our life and he worked for Angel."

"I worked **with** Angel." Gunn corrected. "The names Gunn."

"Angel? What happened to..." Buffy too was silenced by a look from Gunn. No matter how he looked at her though she had to know what happened to her old boyfriend. This was definitely a conversation they would have later on though.

"I heard you brought home some strays?" a familiar feminine voice asked of Gunn as they walked into the room. She was a blond just like Buffy, around the same age as her and a little taller then the Slayer. She was cute but one look in her eyes and you could tell that she'd been through and seen a lot of bad things in her lifetime. "I..." she stopped talking as she looked over at the other blond in the room. Her eyes starting to water she called out her name. "Buffy?"

"Li... Lily?" Buffy asked with a wince as she put a hand on the bruise on her forehead. Am I dreaming?

"Lily?" Gunn asked in confusion.

"Buffy.. you... you know her?" Dawn asked as she looked between the two.

"Yeah." Buffy replied as she looked to her little sister. "I met her when... when I ran away that one time."

"Is this your sister... Dawn you told me about?" Anne asked as she looked at the younger Summers girl. "She's beautiful."

"I like her already." Dawn replied with a smile.

"Gunn, would you mind showing Dawn where she can get washed up and get something to eat?" Anne asked.

"You're the boss... Lily." Gunn replied with a smile as the two shared a playful snarky look. Nodding his head to the exit, Dawn followed up behind him.

"I can't believe you're here." Anne said as she sat on the bed and gave Buffy a hug. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"I never thought, I'd see me again either." Buffy said with a smile as she returned the hug. "What are you doing here?"

"I'll have to tell you the long version of my story for you to understand then." Anne replied as she stared deeply into Buffy's eyes. "It was very rough when you left me in LA and you weren't kidding when you said Mitch was repulsive." she said as they both shared a chuckle. "I truly adopted your name Anne and as I was waiting tables I saw so many lost, abused, and forgotten kids come to the diner. All of them reminded me so much of what I was so I started to talk to and get to know them, so they'd know that somebody cared. Some of them would come to the diner all of the time until one day I noticed they started disappearing. I started thinking to myself what would you do, so I did a little investigating and I found out that a small vampire nest was targeting homeless kids and killing them since no one would miss them. I... I found out where the vampires were and I attacked them and well let's say it didn't go so well. Gunn must've followed the same leads I did, because before they could snack on me, he and his group showed up and dusted all of them. He... he really saved my life."

"I'm getting the theme that he does that a lot." Buffy interrupted as she thought about what Dawn had said earlier.

"Yeah." Anne replied with a smile as she continued her story. "Anyway, I told him what I did and he told me... that I had balls of steel to do what I did alone. When he took me into his group, I saw that all of his people were just boys and girls who were runaways and orphans. It seemed that no matter what I did I kept seeing the same thing. The memory of what you did for me, inspired me. I went to court and officially changed my name to Anne Steele. Then I opened up a shelter for homeless and abused teens."

"Wow." Buffy replied with wide eyes. Now she saw that all of the sacrifices she made meant something to someone else and that she inspired them. "Just... wow."

"When the apocalypse hit, Gunn was the first one to show up to get us out of LA." Anne went on. "He was going to take us to this hotel he said a friend of his owned but he said that it was overrun. I had a thought to come back to Sunnydale to find you but we found out that it was overrun too so we settled into this motor inn. It's been a struggle but we're making it."

"It wasn't much better in Sunnydale." Buffy admitted honestly. "When we first heard about this happening we took in a few people who decided to stay behind in town. Spike and I... oh you don't know who that is." Buffy said sheepishly as she looked up at the other young woman. "I'll have to explain that later. Anyway, dozens of zombies surrounded my house one day and I went to go and check on Dawn and she... she tried to commit suicide." as she said that out loud for the first time she realized how bad it sounded and looked up at her companion out of embarrassment. But to her surprise she didn't see judgement in her eyes, only understanding and compassion. Still she wanted to edit some of her story of what happened. Buffy didn't know whether it was out of habit of not fully being honest with people about what goes bump in the night but the world had just ended and she didn't know who to trust. She knew that she could trust Anne but still she needed to protect Dawn as much as possible. With that thought she told her about all that had happened to her and her sister after getting back to Earth."You wanna know what's messed up about this whole thing? I didn't even get a chance to grieve my mom's death before this all happened. Is this what life is going to be now? Just all death, loss, and pain?"

"Pain." Anne said as she suddenly sat down next to Buffy. "That's the one thing, I learned about through this whole journey called life. The pain we feel doesn't go away, we just make room for it."

Processing what the other young woman had said to her, Buffy suddenly felt a sense of hope flow through her. "I'm gonna help you guys defend this place."

"God knows we need the help but we don't have much left on the way of weapons." Lily informed her.

"You do now." the Slayer replied as she stood to her feet. "I took all the guns that Aaron had in his weapons locker and as much as I could from Giles' private stash. I was forced to leave my car behind because... well I ran out of gas, but everything is still there."

"I'll let Gunn know about that in a few minutes." Lily said as she stood to her feet herself. "It's getting late so you two can go out and get them tomorrow. Now come on, let's get you cleaned up and get you something to eat."

* * *

"How do you guys have power?" Dawn asked as she looked around and saw lights on in several of the motel rooms.

"I'll introduce you to the two nerds that made that possible." Gunn spoke up. "Let's just say that they rigged some generators that we found."

"And weren't you supposed to find gas for those generators?" a feminine voice asked behind them. Turning around they saw a beautiful woman with curly brown hair, red lipstick, long gloves, and tight clothes standing behind them.

"I got distracted Gwen, damn."

"I see." Gwen replied with a sneer in Dawn's direction before she jabbed a finger on Gunn's chest. "Just remember one thing buddy, I'm not a damn battery." and with that she walked off in a huff.

"What was that about?" Dawn asked of Gunn as she watched Gwen walk off.

"Gwen is a mutant that has the power of electricity." the black man answered. "Fred and Jonathan had to ... modify the generators to be some sort of battery and she dumps her raw energy into it. Enough to last at least a day each time she has to do it. I was supposed to find some gas today, because she says she's getting tired."

"Why was she wearing those gloves?" Dawn asked, trying to understand what was going on.

"Because she can't control her powers." he answered. "She can't ever touch anybody."

"Cool, she's kinda like Rogue from the X-men."

"You like comics?" Gunn asked with a smile. "The food should be done in another few minutes. Come on."

Leading the way into his room, Dawn walked in and saw a simple bed, some clothes scattered around the room, a few weapons, and two big boxes in the corner. Walking over to one of the boxes, Gunn reached in and showed her something she though she'd never see in her life.

"You have a first edition Spiderman comic?"

"I have more then that." Gunn answered. "I have a first edition Batman and Superman two."

"These things have to be worth a fortune." Dawn replied excitedly.

"They ain't worth much in the apocalypse." he replied as she started to reach in the box to touch them, only for him to quickly push her hands away. "Okay they're worth something to me."

"She's beautiful." Dawn said as she noticed a picture in the box and took it out. It was of a black teenager with curly hair. "Who is she?"

"She's my little sister, Alonna." he answered quietly.

"Where is she?" Dawn asked as she noticed a pained look on his face. Feeling sorry for asking, she decided to change the subject. "That food you promised me is probably done by now. Let's go and eat."

"Yeah." Gunn replied as he looked at Alonna's image one more time. Taking a deep breath, he walked out of his room.


	5. Chapter 4 Just A Girl

Chapter 4

Just A Girl

_"You think you know...what's to come...what you are. You haven't even begun."_ Sitting up with a start, Buffy panted as she looked around the room she was now in. Her memory coming back to her, she remembered that she and Dawn were in a motor inn on the outskirts of Sunnydale. They were safe or at least as safe as they could be at the moment.

Looking over at her sister, who was still sound asleep next to her, she sighed in relief. That was until she tried to remember her dream. A dream that she kept having over and over since she'd come back from being in that portal. She couldn't remember what it was about but whoever was talking to her said the same thing over and over again.

Slipping out of bed, she decided to take a bath before meeting up with Gunn. Deciding to not wear her military fatigues she dressed in all black and grabbed a leather jacket.

* * *

After Buffy, Amy, and Dawn had gotten something to eat, Gunn had shown them around the motel before going to what he called the library. As they got close to the room, they heard a woman and a man arguing about something.

Opening the door, Gunn shook his head as he saw a pretty, brown haired, thin woman writing on the wall and a short nerdy man standing behind her with a frown on his face. Many books were piled up in the corner as high as the eye could see.

"I'm telling you, Fred that's impossible." the man was saying as the woman kept writing.

"Jonno!" Gunn said loudly

"Oh, man you scared the crap out of me." Jonathan said as his hand went up to his chest.

"Hi! Hey! You're... Well, hi there!" Fred said with a big smile as she ran into Gunn's arms.

"Hey, Fred." the black youth replied as he returned the hug. "You two ain't arguing about who would win between astronauts and cavemen again are you?"

"No... no, nothing like that... we were..."

"We were arguing about what caused this apocalypse." Jonathan finished for her. "Fred thinks that the government put something in vaccines and medicine that made all of us infected."

"That sounds possible." Gunn agreed. He had always believed that the government was experimenting with population control, even though he believed that they didn't want all of this to happen.

"Well look at this first." the nerdy youth replied as he quickly walked to a corner and grabbed a newspaper and handed it to the other man. "I found this by a dumpster when we were cleaning out rooms. Rea... read the headline."

"Scientists unearth giant plant in Antarctica." Gunn mumbled as he looked over at the short man. "So? I mean what does this have to do with anything?"

"Look at the date on the paper." Jonathan told him. "It's a month before the apocalypse started. That can't be a coincidence. That plant has been there since the Mesozoic era. The spores from it could have somehow affected us. Maybe the government even did experiments on it and it somehow caused all of this. Heck, this could've been what really killed the dinosaurs."

"None of that shit matters now man." Gunn cut him off. "Whatever happened, happened and we're in the middle of it. I didn't come in here for that anyway. I wanted you to know that we have guests." letting go of Fred, he walked to the door and let Buffy and Dawn in.

"Jonathan?" Buffy asked.

"Bu...Buffy?" Jonathan asked. She remembered my name.

"I haven't seen you since high school. How have you been?"

"Apocalypse... you?" Jonathan asked with a grin.

"The same." Buffy replied as Gunn cleared his throat.

"We need to hit the road." he interrupted. "We can save the reunion for later."

"Ok oh fearless leader." Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes as she headed back to the door. "We'll be back soon Dawn. Stay out of trouble."

"You're... you're leaving again?" Fred asked of Gunn as she grabbed his hand.

"Don't worry, I'll be back." he told her as he suddenly heard a squeaking sound. Looking towards Dawn he saw a rat's head peak out of her bag. "I... I gotta go." Gunn said as he hurriedly disappeared out of the room.

"No don't touch that!" Jonathan shouted as Dawn tried to touch an artifact that lay under a glass display case.

"Jeez it's just a stupid nail." Dawn whined.

"Believe me it's much more then that. Now, who is this?" Jonathan asked with a smile as the mouse jumped out of the girls pack and into his hands.

"My sister told me that her name is Amy Madison." Dawn replied as she crossed her arms over her chest. "But, I think she was pulling my leg."

Amy? Jonathan thought to himself. So this is what happened to you. Taking her over to a table, he started to consult his books.

Looking around Dawn read the words on the wall behind where Fred was standing: "Listen, listen, listen... What are you listening for?"

As she asked that Fred sat down on the arm of a chair, pulling her knees up. "The click. - When it all comes together and makes sense. There's like a click in your brain and then you understand things again."

"Oh." Dawn said with wide eyes as she looked at her as if she were crazy. "What happens if you run out of wall space before you get the click?"

Worriedly Fred, hugged her arms around her knees: "I don't know." Hearing Jonathan saying something, Dawn and Fred looked over at him.

Cio che fu non e piu. Cio

che fu fatto, disfa.

Passato e il pericolo,

finita e la prova. Metti

le cose a posto.

And Amy -the real, live, human, not-ratted, young woman suddenly appeared, naked and dazed and with one of her breasts in Jonathan's hand.

"Oh!" Jonathan squeaked loudly as he jerked his hand away. Looking around the room and head spinning, Amy passed out.

"I think we better find her some clothes." Fred suggested as she and Dawn stood over the unconscious witch.

* * *

Gunn and Buffy's ride was mostly done so in silence, with the exception of the blond giving him directions. As they got out of the truck and neared the abandoned car, Buffy couldn't bare the silence any longer and decided to start a conversation.

"So... um.. that Fred girl." Buffy started nervously. "She's kinda... eccentric."

"Girl has a right to be." Gunn answered as Buffy moved past him and opened up the trunk. "She spent the last five years in a demon dimension where people were treated like cows." as he said that he told her about how, he and the rest of Angel investigations went to another dimension to rescue Cordelia and they ended up saving Fred as well. "Wouldn't you be a little... eccentric if that happened to you?"

"I... I guess so." Buffy replied as she cleared her throat. "What about... Angel?"

"He got bit aight." Gunn blurted out in anger. "He was out there everyday still helping the helpless when this all went down. He got bit the day he said he was going to open the hotel to survivors. If I had've known that vampires turn, I would've waited before I went to get my crew. When I went back to that hotel it was a mad house. All, I remember was blood and Wes pushing Fred out of the door and into my arms." I also remember Cordelia's scream. I'll never forget that horrible sound. "Some fool was riding a motorcycle outside, so I used the distraction to get Fred and my people out of there and we ended up settling into this inn."

Taking a step back, Buffy truly saw her companion. He was a man lost in anger, pain, and regret because he couldn't be there to stop his friends from dying. His whole life, he'd dedicated his whole existence to saving people and the very people he was doing it for died right before his eyes. Basically she was looking at the male version of herself. Even as she reached out to hold his hand and give it a gentle squeeze, letting him know that she understood, she still had to know.

"How are you dealing with... all of this?"

"What do you mean?" he asked as he leaned on her car.

"It's just ... I mean ... I can beat up the demons until the cows come home. And then I can beat up the cows ... but I'm not sure I like what it's doing to me."

"Not to sound cold but you're the Slayer." Gunn said as he watched her body go stiff. "Shouldn't you be used to stuff like this?"

"Does anybody ever think that there's a girl... a real person behind the Slayer legend?" Buffy asked as she met his gaze. "I never asked for any of this. I was happy being an air-headed blond from LA. Can you imagine one day playing with your friends and then the next you're running from vampires."

"Yeah, I do know how that feels." Gunn replied quietly.

"I just... I just feel so hollow inside." Buffy continued. "It's like I'm always in kill mode and love itself doesn't mean anything. Before this all went down, my boyfriend Riley left because I was shut down. He's gone. And now Angel and my mom are gone ... and I loved them more than anything ... and ... I don't know if they knew."

"They knew." Gunn replied as he put an arm around her tiny waist. Looking up at the heavens he loosely thought about his little sister. "They knew."

"I don't know. To slay, to kill ... i-it means being hard on the inside. Maybe being the Slayer means being too hard to love at all. I already feel like I can hardly say the words."

"True. I mean, who has time for love when you're out there doing it with the demons?" as Gunn said that Buffy glanced in his direction. "Didn't that come out sad and wrong?" he asked as they both chuckled. "Look the only thing I can tell you is the same thing my little sister told me when we were fighting demons as kids. Whenever this life gets to hard... look to me so you'll remember what you're fighting for." as he said that he instantly felt bad because he had taken his eyes off of her for a second and she was taken away from him and turned into a vampire.

Instantly feeling a surge of hope flow through her, Buffy reached over and gave Gunn a crushing hug. Seeing that she was putting a little more strength in the hug then she was supposed to, she relaxed a little so he could breathe. "Thank you for saving me and Dawn.. and just... for everything."

"Not a problem." Gunn replied as he looked at his truck bed. "Since you got all of those weapons for us, I think we're even."

"Not yet." Buffy replied as she narrowed her eyes and looked off in the distance. "You guys still need gas and I know where to get some."

"Where?" Gunn asked as she smiled.

"Back in Sunnydale."


	6. Chapter 5 Weird Love

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys. It's funny that you mentioned Faith Allen because I was planning on writing a story about her dealing with this. You'll also see a special surprise at the end of this chapter. I hope you guys have been liking this story so far and as always please, please review.

Chapter 5

Weird Love

Sunnydale

"I don't care who you are." Gunn was saying as he paced behind his blond companion, keeping a vigilant eye on their surroundings. "Ain't no way you can make that shot."

"Watch me." Buffy replied with a devilish smile as they looked over a desolate ridge, overlooking the Quik-E-Mart gas station and grocery with a pair of binoculars. They were lucky that most of the people in Sunnydale had fled when the outbreak happened or they wouldn't have anything to come and get. She would have raided the place before leaving Sunnydale all together but she didn't want to put Dawn in danger by what they might have found inside. "Just sit back and let me work."

Studying the station a moment longer, she saw a lone undead wander the forecourt. Adjusting her binoculars she read the name Earl written on his uniform. It was funny that he didn't have anywhere else to go but back to the place he had worked.

"Sorry Earl." Buffy whispered as she put away the binoculars and started to assemble a deadly looking crossbow. Loading it with a single steel bolt, she put her eye to the telescopic sights.

Squinting her eye, she fired the bolt and watched as it streaked over three hundred yards. It was an amazing shot that landed with deadly precision. Earl was hit clean between the eyes and the bolt impacted with such force that the undead's head was pinned to the bodywork of a nearby Chevy pick up truck. With a smile on her face, she looked back at Gunn who looked at her in awe.

Without saying a word, they got into his truck and rode to the abandoned station. The bell sounded as they pulled up beside the pump. It was a lonesome sound, belonging to a long dead world. Earl looked at them with dead glazed over eyes, his head still nailed to the pick up.

Closing her eyes, Buffy used her Slayer senses and didn't pick up any danger nearby. As she was busy doing her thing, Gunn hand cranked the gas pump and smiled as it filled up three five gallon cans, but then nothing. Not another drop. He'd try the other pumps at a later time when he and his gang could come back.

"Seems quiet." he mumbled as he took the cans and put them in the back of his truck.

Checking the gas station for signs of life, Buffy saw that the doors and windows were all securely boarded up. There didn't seem to be any sign of walkers and as she looked over her shoulder she saw that the black man was staring back at her waiting on her decision.

Her mind made up, Buffy kicked open the door to the boarded up station. Trying to hold back bile, the stench hit her immediately. And flies seemed to be everywhere. Holding her breath, both of them entered, gun and battle ax in hand, while the other hand covered their mouths.

Giving each other a nod, they both grabbed baskets and spilt up. As Buffy made her way through the dreadful interior,the tension seemed to mount, making her be even more on guard. The room seemed gloomy and filled with shadows, making an oppressive sense of doom hang over the place.

Just like in the movies, the sound of flies started to increase and Bam! Buffy almost jumped out of her skin as she accidently knocked over a tray of pennies beside the cash register.

"Hey you aight?" Gunn whispered into his walkie talkie to her.

"Yeah." Buffy whispered back as she composed herself, turned and ran straight into a dead body. It was hanging from a makeshift noose. The face was hideous and distorted making it impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman. All Buffy did know was that it made her want to wretch, especially when she saw flies cling to the rotting meat and buzz around it in excitement.

Turning away from the source of the smell, she quickly threw whatever canned food and bags of ramen she could find into her basket before moving on. Moments later Buffy and Gunn exited the store, with full baskets, gulping the fresh air.

Hearing a strange noise, they looked over to where Earl was and saw two large crows hungrily pecking away at his tainted flesh. Feeling that they had an audience, the birds looked over at them with strange glazed over eyes.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Gunn said lowly as they quickly loaded up their food and other items, all the while looking at the birds. As they got into the truck a mysterious thick fog suddenly and quickly enveloped the parking lot. "What the..." before he could finish his sentence, he switched on the high beams on his truck and they saw over a dozen brown robe wearing monks standing all around the truck.

Giving each other a look, Buffy and Gunn looked back to the monks and watched as one as they pulled down their hoods. All of them seemed ghostly pale and their eyes seemed to be cut out and replaced with large grotesque rune-like scars over their eyelids. If that wasn't enough their heads suddenly went slack and pink tentacles started to come out of their mouths, noses, ears, and through the runes on their faces.

"I knew this day was going too good." Gunn said as he reached into the back seat of his truck and grabbed his battle ax. They couldn't risk trying to drive through them out of fear of damaging the truck. "You ready?"

"Let's do this." Buffy replied as she grabbed her crossbow. With a grunt she opened her door, knocking back one of the things, and firing off a shot.

Hotel California

Amy sat on a bed, dressed, with her movements now being quick, almost twitchy. As Fred, followed by Jonathan and Dawn, entered the room carrying a mug, she jumped a little.

"Hey, I... I remember when I came from a bad place all I wanted was some hot chocolate and tacos." Fred said with a huge smile. "We don't have tacos but you're welcome to the chocolate."

"Mmmm-mmm." Amy mumbled with a shake of her head. "No, thanks. Still kinda queasy."

"O...Okay, maybe later." Fred replied as she sat the mug down on the nightstand. "How're you..." Outside, children played loudly making Amy's eyes dart to the open window. Tapping into her magick source she made a quick hand movement, and it slammed shut. "How did you..." with another hand gesture Amy made the drapes shut. "It's all right." Fred said with a smile as she sat at the edge of the bed. "It's just children playing around."

"You're with friends now, Amy." Dawn said as Amy looked away from the window and looked at her.

"Hey, I know you!" Amy yelled out as she stared at Dawn. But it was impossible for it to be Buffy's little sister. She had grown taller and looked older. But that could only mean... "How long was I a rat?" she asked as she looked around the room and finally stopped as she saw Jonathan looking at her nervously.

"I...I..."

"How long Jonathan?" Amy asked again, stopping his stuttering fit.

"Well umm... from what I was told." Jonathan started as he met the witch's gaze. "It's been three years."

"Three... three years?" Amy asked as the breath was knocked out of her. She had missed everything. Especially prom.

"There's more." Jonathan went on, more nervous then before.

"Oh great." Amy mumbled, trying to calm down. "How can things be worse then that?"

"Jonathan... maybe we shouldn't..."

"Fred... I... I think she needs to know." Jonathan went on as he looked back at the young witch. "Amy, since.. since you've been a rat..."

"Spit it out, Jonathan!" Amy yelled. The suspense was killing her.

"The... the world ended." Dawn finished for him. Seeing an old newspaper on the desk, she picked up up and handed it to the slightly older woman. Reading the headline the dead walk, Amy felt a cold chill run up her spine.

"You mean to tell me that, I missed three years of my life, the prom, and now the world ended?" Amy asked. "God, I was hoping that Larry was going to take me to the prom too."

"Umm... two things Amy." Jonathan replied, clearing his throat. "One Larry's gay and two he's dead."

Quik-E-Mart

Parking Lot

Avoiding a lunge from her would be attacker, Buffy saw that she was being pushed back further and further away from Gunn. Using the butt end of her crossbow, she crushed the skull of the monk before her. Taking out her walkie talkie, so she could try to contact him, she was suddenly swamped making her drop and destroy it as it hit the ground.

With a curse, she fired off another bolt before tossing the empty weapon into another monks hands and giving him a side kick. Squatting down, she leapt up high in the air and jumped on the back of Gunn's truck. Grabbing a loaded shotgun, she looked into the crowd of monsters and saw Gunn, outnumbered and fighting for his life.

With one final leap, she landed on the hood of the truck and whistled to get everyone's attention. "Hey boy's." Buffy said as everyone stopped and looked at her. Tossing Gunn the shotgun, she pushed the tails of her long coat to one side to reveal two kukri blades strapped to her legs. They were long gurkha machetes that were unique and incredibly difficult to master but the deadliest blades in the world. "It's show time."

Taking that as his cue, Gunn fired at the first of the undead monks. Half of his head disintegrated, but there was no blood or fleshy brain, just dry desiccated tissue. What was worse it kept walking. Half of it's head was gone but it was still moving.

"They're too far gone!" Buffy shouted as she did a flip off of the truck and landed in front of her new friend.

The undead with half a head reached for her, his half mouth opening wide, revealing shattered teeth. In an instant, his severed hands and then what remained of his head hit the sandy street. His lifeless body followed a moment later.

"I'll deal with the rest of them." Buffy said as she twirled her blades in her hands. "Get to the truck."

Without hesitation, she charged the undead. Not caring that she was outnumbered, her jacket danced in the wind, her blades spinning around her in a lethal arc. After a moment she was a blur of deadly motion and wherever she moved things died. In the blink of an eye, Gunn watched as the last of the demons fell.

Getting out of the truck, he quickly walked over to her. "Remind me to never make you mad."

With a chuckle Buffy almost immediately keeled over, exhausted from her efforts both physical and mental. Luckily Gunn was there to stop her from falling. Helping her to his truck, he gathered her crossbow and a few bolts before driving off with her through the mist.

Later That Day

Hotel California

"You guys got enough food to keep us going for another couple of weeks." Anne said happily as she greeted them at Gunn's parked truck. "And I think Gwen will be happy to know about the gas."

"I aim to please." Gunn said with a grin as he and Buffy got out of the pick up.

"Buffy, you're back!" Dawn yelled as she quickly walked up to them. "You have to see what Jonathan did."

"I will but first I wanted you to know that I love you, Dawn." Buffy started as she touched her sister's cheek. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah. I love you too." Dawn replied wondering where this was going.

"I love you ..." Buffy said more intensely. "*really* I love you."

"Gettin' weird." Dawn said lowly with a nervous grin.

"Sorry. But it's important that I tell you. Weird love's better than no love right?" she asked as they hugged.

"Now that, that's out of the way come on." Dawn said spoiling the family moment. "I gotta show you what Jonathan did."

"I'll be right behind you." Buffy replied as she watched the younger girl run off, before turning to her new friend. "Gunn... umm... can I talk to you?"

"Yeah." he replied as he handed a sack over to a boy that had walked by. "What up?"

"I... I know we just met and I have no right to ask but if something happens to me could you look after Dawn?"

His reply came only seconds later and it made her breath catch in her throat "No."

"Bu..."

"Look, I made that same promise to my little sister Alonna." Gunn cut the stunned Slayer off. "And guess what... she died. I ain't making that promise again but if you want some advice... you need to take the kiddie gloves off when it comes to Dawn and teach her how to fight and survive or she'll become a monster or turn up dead like my sister did." not giving her a chance to reply, Gunn swiftly walked away from her.

With wide angry eyes, Buffy watched her new partner in crime walk away from her. Her heart was pounding so loudly at the moment that she couldn't even hear her own thoughts. Once it started to calm down however, she thought about what he said and he was right. She had already decided to not treat Dawn like a child anymore when they had left Sunnydale and here she was doing it all over again. With a sigh she wondered how they could move forward in their new lives.

Los Angeles

The Vermont

Luxury High-rise Apartment

A beautiful luxurious apartment sat high above LA, untouched by the hands of the dead. The huge suite had walk in closets, stainless steel appliances, Toto fixtures, euro-style cabinetry, and granite counter tops. The kitchen and living room had bamboo flooring, berber carpeting in the bedrooms, and marmoleum flooring in bath areas. The apartment also had several more things, one of which was a man in a black ceremonial robe chained to a chair, screaming for his life.

"Oh do calm down, Ben." an elderly man said as he stood by the window and looked at what was once a beautiful city now littered with the dead and fires that were left to burn. "You know you can't leave from here, so I see no point of struggling."

"I... I wouldn't struggle if you didn't have me in chains." Ben replied with a wince as the chains cut into his wrists.

"Young Benjamin do you take me for a fool?" the man asked, still not turning around to face him. "Am I simply supposed to forget that you killed several of Glorificus' minions?"

"I'll forget about it if you will." Ben said with a grin. Although he couldn't see the other man's face in the darkened room, he knew that he was smiling.

"Doctorae!" someone shouted from another room. Looking up, Ben saw a pale skinned demon that was shorter than most humans, had beady black eyes and scabby skin and wore a brown robe, come into the room.

"Please Jinx." the old man said as he turned around. He was a small man with white hair and an air of eccentric lure. "Call me Doc."

"Magick use has been detected in the vicinity of Sunnydale." Jinx reported.

"What?" Doc asked as he walked up to him. Billions of humans and demons were dead by now and there hadn't been activity in Sunnydale in nearly six months. "Are you certain?"

"Yes sir." Jinx squeaked out as they both heard the sounds of bones cracking, followed by a flash of light.

"I want you to go there and investigate to see if it has anything to do with the key or the Slayer." Glory said as she broke her chains and looked to Doc. "Whoever you meet, make sure they believe that you're human. No matter the cost. The time has come and past for my big day but I can still use the key to get the hell out of this dimension."

"Yes my beautiful queen." Doc said with a bow as he quickly walked out of the room.

"And you... get me something to eat." Glory ordered of Jinx. She knew that the human population was diminishing, so she stayed bound in Ben's body for several months to keep from starving. "I feel like I haven't eaten in months."

"Yes, your curly-hairedness." Jinx said as he slinked out of the room.

Standing to her feet, she looked out of the window and into the dead city and it's carnage. "God, what a beautiful view."


	7. Chapter 6 Trojan

Authors Note : Thanks for all of those reviews guys, I couldn't do this story without them. Now to answer some questions. To Allen Pitt, no Faith isn't dead and she has her own thing going on right now. There's also a reason why I deliberately kept Wolfram and Hart out of this story and it's for the same reason I didn't put people like Lorne or Cordelia in the story. I didn't want any side, good nor evil, to have an unfair advantage. I want both sides to be on a quote unquote even playing field. But be expecting some surprise people to pop up every now and again.

To Angel's girl, yes the apocalypse will and has changed both Glory and Buffy in ways that will both help and hurt them. You'll see what I mean as this fic goes on. Thanks for your review Noah and thank you for keep reviewing. To weirdstoryreader, I actually don't know how long this story is going to be. I have certain events planned out in my mind but I honestly can't say how long it'll be. Anyway thanks to everyone who has been reviewing and I hope to see more people join in.

Chapter 6

Trojan

Well over four and a half months had passed since Buffy and Dawn had moved into Hotel California with their new family. Even after the danger they had encountered in Sunnydale, Gunn and most of his gang had went back to the small town with trucks and had taken nearly everything that they needed to survive from certain sections of the city.

Soon after, the motor inn had turned into a nice little community. Buffy was training Dawn and Gunn's gang on how to do martial arts and Judo. Fred had gained more of her sanity back and along with Anne had become a teacher to the few children that lived in the inn. Jonathan and Amy practically ran the community now and were vastly improving it. It seemed that the little nerd had a knack for running a community so the children nicknamed him the Mayor.

In an effort to secure the facility even more Jonathan needed to do a spell that he believed would help unlock hidden powers that would keep everyone at the inn safe.

Hotel California

Jonathan's Private Study

Fred, Dawn, Buffy, Gunn, Amy, and Gwen all sat on the floor in a circle as Jonathan finished drawing symbols on the wall and lighting candles.

"You sure you know what you're doing Mayor Mc Hard-buns?" Gwen asked as she playfully slapped Jonathan on the butt as he walked past her.

Sitting on the floor, he swallowed hard and started to rapidly blink at her antics. He'd never know why Gwen liked flirting with him but he liked it, no matter how nervous it made him. "There... there's nothing to worry about."

"Don't worry guys, I checked what he did myself and everything's cool." Amy told the group. After turning herself into a rat and after talking to Jonathan, she decided to slack off on the magick side of her life, at least for now.

"Let's... let's begin." Jonathan said as he started to chant. "The power of the soul and all who yield it. Last to ancient first, we invoke thee. Grant us thy domain and primal strength. Accept us in the power we possess and what we seek to have. Make us mind and heart and spirit and joy. Let the hand encompass us. Do thy will." as he said that he handed Dawn a card.

"Acutus... focus." the younger Summer's said aloud.

Jonathan then handed a card to Buffy.

"Robur... strength." the blond said as Jonathan handed out yet another card.

"Potestas... power." Gwen said as yet another card was handed out.

"Timor...fear." Gunn said.

"Veneficus... magick." Amy said as she looked at her card.

"Sophus... mind." Fred said nervously.

"And Manus..." Jonathan added. "We implore thee, admit us, make us thy vessel, take us now."

The lights started to flicker and the candles then blew out. Standing to his feet, Jonathan flicked the light switch on.

"Did it work?" Buffy asked as she looked to the others.

"I... I don't know." Jonathan replied as he looked down at his hands. "Does anybody feel different?"

"No." Gunn said for everyone as he stood to his feet. "I told you all this magic crap don't work."

"Nice bonding exercise, Jonno." Gwen said as she stood to her feet as well. She really hoped the spell would work because it would've been a way to control her powers so she wouldn't hurt others. "Better luck next time."

"I don't know what went wrong... I..." before Jonathan could complete his sentence the group all heard a fly annoyingly buzzing in the room.

Following the sound, they saw the pest land on the wall. Taking her knife off of her belt, Dawn threw the projectile with pinpoint accuracy and the group watched as it went right through the fly and embedded in the wall. With wide eyes they all looked back at Dawn.

"I guess your little spell worked for one of us." Gwen said as she put a gloved hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "Now aren't we a band of misfits?"

"How are you feeling, Dawnie?" Buffy asked as they all stood to their feet and gathered around her.

"Like I drank a dozen red bulls." Dawn answered with a smile. "Now let's go and kill stuff."

"Dawn." Buffy admonished.

"Well I was going to send a group out to go on a run to Sunnydale today." Gunn spoke up. "Skills like that can come in handy."

"How long is this spell going to last, Jonathan?" Buffy asked as the short man started to fidget.

"A day... a week... maybe forever." he mumbled the last part out.

"Come on kid, I'll teach you how to use a sniper rifle." Gunn said as he started to lead her out of the door.

"Wait... don't you think our group needs a name?" Dawn asked.

"What you got in mind?"

Looking past him, Dawn focused on a comic book on Jonathan's desk and smiled. "What about the Suicide Squad?"

Sunnydale Mall

Buffy, Dawn, Amy, and Gwen walked through the malls parking lot armed to the teeth, making sure to keep a watchful eye on their surroundings. Still deep down inside of her Buffy was a valley girl and still wanted to know about the latest gossip.

"So ummm... I heard a rumor that you and Jonathan were starting to date." Buffy whispered over to Amy, who chuckled.

"I think Jonathan has a little crush on me but that's it." was all Amy would say on the matter. "But what about you and Gunn? You two seem awfully chummy lately."

"What Gunn and I have is strictly professional." Buffy replied as she suddenly started to smile. "Do you think he likes me?"

"I think you two would make a cute couple." the witch said as her eyes lit up. "He's handsome, charming, and a fighter. If it means anything, he's already earned the approval of your sister."

As Buffy looked back at Dawn, she saw the girl giddily bouncing up and down ready for a fight. "I don't know if there's time for love."

"These are the end of days Buffy." Amy told her firmly. "And you've found somebody that can love you back. You need to take that opportunity before it's too late."

"Are you saying this for my benefit or yours?" Buffy asked as Amy's cheeks turned a bright red. As they neared the entrance door of the tiny mall, Gwen loudly pounded on the door. Waiting for several minutes no zombies came to the door. "All right, just remember that we're here to gather a few supplies and that you all have your lists of things to get." Buffy started as she looked at the other girls. "Just remember that this is an in and out mission. We get what we need and go. If any of us run into any trouble just call on our walkie talkies." she said gesturing to her earpiece. "Does everybody know what they have to do? Good... Gwen..."

Taking off her glove, Gwen sent an electrical charge through the sliding doors that made the entrance open. Gathering their flashlights and empty duffle bags the girls quietly walked into the mall. Happy that the skylight gave off enough illumination to stay mobile, Buffy still didn't want to get comfortable and drop her guard.

"All right, I know I'm breaking a horror movie rule by saying this but let's split up and... Dawn." Buffy whispered as she noticed her sister wasn't behind her. "Dawn." she whispered into her earpiece. Hearing shuffling behind her, Buffy turned to see a zombie, arms outstretched, walking towards her. Before she could bring up her gun, a bullet whizzed by her head and blew the walkers skull to a million pieces.

"I'm close." Dawn said into her earpiece. "I'm at a good vantage point so I got you guys covered."

After about an hour of scavenging for the things they needed, Buffy and the others emerged from the mall with full duffle bags. As they crossed the parking lot to get ready to leave they suddenly heard a man shouting. Looking up they saw an elderly man running quite slowly from some zombies.

"Help... help me." the man cried out weakly. Using her sniper rifle, Dawn picked off the man's would be attackers. "Thank... thank you." he said as he bent at the waist and started to wheeze in front of them.

"Are you okay, Mister..."

"Grey." the man answered. "Dr. Joel Grey. My friends call me Doc."

"A doctor?" Buffy asked. "God, we need one of those right about now."

"I remember you." Dawn said as she eyed the man carefully.

"Yes." Doc replied with a smile. "How did everything go with your mother?"

"What are you two talking about?" Buffy asked with a frown.

"Nothing." Dawn replied quickly.

"If it's a doctor that you need, I'll be more then happy to help you." Doc told Buffy with a smile. "It's not like I have anything better to do."

"I have a question first." Gwen started as she walked up to the older man. "Where did you come from? The apocalypse happened and you're still well dressed and you don't have any blood or grime on you at all."

"Well you see my office is just across the parking lot." Doc explained as he pointed to a building across the way. "Several buildings around here have generators, so I've been filling them with gas to keep power running to my building and the dry cleaner, which is how I've kept my clothes clean. The food court is just over there and since it was just me the food lasted for quite some time but it just now ran out. I heard weapons fire over here and I came to investigate. While I was out, I got attacked by those dead heads."

Gwen stared at him for a moment to gauge if he were telling the truth or not. In her line of work as an ex-thief she could always tell if someone was being untruthful, but this was the first time that she couldn't.

"Just because the lights are dim doesn't mean the juice is all gone." Doc said with a smile, misinterpreting her gaze.

"It's starting to get late and the others will worry." Amy spoke as she looked around. "I also don't like being in Sunnydale long, especially before nightfall, so we should get out of here."

"If you have anything you need to get, then get it now." Buffy told the elderly man.

"I only have my medical bag and a few clothes to get." Doc replied as he turned around and headed back to his office.

"Gwen, go with him." Buffy ordered as she turned around and looked at Dawn.

As her older sister looked at her, Dawn couldn't help but wonder what important fact about Doc that she was forgetting. She knew that he was a practitioner of magick but there was something else about him that she couldn't remember.

Hotel California

After making sure Doc got a room, Buffy took a brief walk and later decided to knock on Gunn's door. She didn't know why she was currently knocking on his door but here she was... knocking. Suddenly remembering that she really didn't have anything to say to him, she stared at him wide eyed as he opened his door.

He was standing there looking at her with a half grin, with his shirt off. Staring at him up and down, she had to admit that Amy was right. She did have a thing for him. Concentrating on his face, she looked up at his head and suddenly came up with something to talk about.

"I see that you're letting your hair grow out." she commented nervously. "It looks good on you."

"Yeah, you didn't think that I was naturally bald did you?" he asked as he gave her a look. She had seen him earlier that week with hair and had said nothing about it. Giving her another look, he moved to the side indicating that he wanted her to come in. "What up?" he asked as she crossed the threshold.

"I umm... I just wanted to see you." she answered as she looked around and saw that he was listening to music by candle light. The patrons of the motel often used candles to conserve power.

"What about?"

"Do, I really need a reason to come and see you?" she asked as she sat down on his bed. Seeing that he was giving her a look. "I mean we are friends right?"

"Right." he replied with another smile as he sat next to her.

After a little small talk, Buffy had to ask him a question that had been on her mind all day. "I guess the real reason, I'm here is because I wanted to know... how do you really feel about me?"

With a look of all seriousness in the world, Gunn leaned over and gave her the most softest, passionate kiss she'd ever had since Angel. Pulling away from her, he had a look of apology written on his expression as he tried to gauge how she felt about what he had just done. He was surprised however as she got on top of him and returned the kiss. God their bodies needed this.

As they started to remove their clothing it was at that moment that Buffy recognized the music that was playing in the background. It was Barry White. Damn his music had claimed yet two more victims.

Doc's Room

Smiling to himself as he looked around his room, Doc sat on his bed and took a white crystal out of his medical bag. Mumbling a spell under his breath, Jinx's leprosy riddled face appeared in the middle of it.

"Tell the Master that I've infiltrated the camp of some humans." Doc told the demon.

"Why would that be important?" Jinx asked. "It's been over four months and you..."

"I'm in the Slayer's camp." Doc said stopping the other demon cold. "Tell Glorificus to give me a little more time and I'll have the key." with a smile, Doc closed the communications and his eyes turned black as he laid down on his soft bed. As he started to drift off into a dreamless sleep, he started to play out in his mind how he was going to handle finding the key.

Please review...


	8. Chapter 7 In All Her Glory pt 1

Author's Note. Thanks for those reviews guys, keep them coming. They're what keeps this story alive. It's also nice to see you back Twilight Warrior 627. You know how I am with crazy stories. Let's see if what you think is going to happen, will happen. Thanks also to Noah and Stargazer. I hope you like this chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 7

In All Her Glory pt. 1

Nearly three weeks had passed since Doc had joined the fold and the man was a life saver. After raiding Sunnydale's hospital, at his request, they had brought certain equipment that he needed to treat new and old injuries that the gang had suffered. They couldn't bring everything because the power generators and energy outlets wouldn't hold up from the use of such powerful machinery.

This day also marked a full two week anniversary after Gunn and Buffy had made love. Dawn was the first of which who had guessed that the two had did the deed and her first remark was it was about time. Their love seemed to be spreading because even Jonathan and Amy now started to openly flirt with one another. Progress was progress, even if the young witch and the magickician hadn't of started dating yet. Yes everything was happy and shiny with just a few zombies to deal with from time to time. But as everyone knew, things wouldn't last that way forever.

Hotel California

Gunn and Buffy's Room

Gunn and Buffy intertwined their fingers together as the Slayer laid her head on her new man's bare chest. It felt good to find love again, even though both of them felt that it would be short.

"What are you thinking about?" Buffy asked as she looked up to the black man's face.

"Round two." Gunn replied with a chuckle as Buffy playfully slapped him on the arm. "No seriously, I... I've been thinking about us lately."

"Do you care to tell me what about?"

"I was just thinking about how long this was gonna last." he started as he took a deep breath. Feeling her body go stiff, he continued. "I just mean that we got a good thing going here but eventually we gotta move on. The food and supplies we got won't last forever and eventually we gotta go on supply runs further and further out. The way I'm thinking is, we should scout on ahead get some moving trucks and move our stuff to another spot that has more supplies and a better line of defense."

"That sounds reasonable." Buffy replied, thinking about the entire situation. They had already loaded a couple of vans with supplies as a fall back plan if they needed to make a quick escape but this was something of a different beast. "But what does that have to do with us?"

"I'll tell you later." he said with a smile.

Giving him a look, she decided to let it drop for now. "Dawn and I were originally going to go to Acton before you found us. We were arguing about where to go because she wanted to go to a place called Frazier Park, that's actually not that far from here. I'll let you decide when I let you see the map I found. I wonder what Jonathan is gonna think about all of this?"

"You let me worry about him, while you worry about this."

"What?"

"Round two." Gunn replied with a smile as he threw the covers over their heads.

Fred's Science Class

Fred looked bright eyed and bushy tailed as she happily wrote several theorems on a chalkboard. Turning around, she smiled at the four students she had who were all writing down what she had written. All except one, who was currently looking out of the window.

"Dawn, do you want to take a crack at one of these theories?" Fred asked as she startled the girl making her slap a bunsen burner and sending it to the floor where it smashed into pieces. "Oh, I didn't mean to startle you." Fred cried out in fright.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean too... ouch!" Dawn yelped as she cut her hand on the broken glass as she tried to clean it up.

"Oh, that looks bad." Fred commented as she looked at the younger girls hand. "Maybe you need to go and see, Doc."

"Yeah." Dawn replied as she got up and sucked at the wound. "I'm sorry again."

"Well that's all right." the Texan woman replied as she watched her walk out of the door. "Just get better."

Doc's Medical Office

Doc sat at his desk covered with books, papers, and an old manual typewriter. Holding a mug, he flipped the pages of a book. Hearing the sound of knocking on the door, he didn't bother to get up as he spoke.

"It's always open!" he called out as Dawn walked through the door. "What can I do for you, Miss Summers? Want some cocoa?"

"No on the cocoa, but yes on the helping me part." Dawn replied as she held up her bleeding hand.

"Oh dear." Doc said as he stood to his feet and walked over to her. "What happened?"

"I cut my hand on some glass." Dawn replied as he ushered her to sit down, before grabbing his medical bag.

"Don't worry, I'll have you patched up in no time." he said as he started to examine her hand. "Hmm, it cut deep but not deep enough to need stitches."

Getting the few things he needed, he started to hum to himself as he went about cleaning up and fixing her hand.

"I'm glad that nothing weird happened when I cut myself." Dawn said more to herself then anything. Every since Jonanthan did that spell on her to make her focus, she seemed to also focus on all the wrong things like people dying and everything wrong that could happen in the future.

"What do you mean?" Doc asked mindlessly as he started to wrap her hand with a cloth bandage.

"I was afraid that I was going to open up another portal." she blurted out with a smile, that quickly turned into a frown. Buffy had told her never to say that to anybody. It was also at that moment she realized what she had forgotten about Doc. He was a demon.

"Do you have any idea how long, I've been looking for you?" Doc asked as his eyes suddenly turned jet black.

"Ummm... ummm... thanks for fixing my hand." Dawn said nervously as she stood to her feet and started to slowly back away from him. "I'll be seeing you."

As she said that, she started to run only for him to speed run ahead of her. "Where are you going?" the old demon asked with a smile as he was suddenly a few inches in front of her. "Perhaps you'd like to lie down." before she could scream, he ran forward and placed a chloroform soaked towel on her face. Kicking and screaming, Dawn gave up the fight and passed out on the floor. Nearly jumping over his desk, he grabbed his communications crystal. "Jinx, tell Glorificus that I am in possession of the key. It is in the form of the Slayer's sister. Get here now!"

Food Area

Later That Day

Buffy sat in Gunn's lap as he started to feed her some of his food. Closing her eyes she savored the moment but then frowned as she noticed that something seemed wrong. Looking around the table she noticed two things. One Fred was frowning at her as if her feelings were hurt and two Dawn was missing.

Getting off of her new boyfriend's lap, she looked around and didn't see her anywhere. As a matter of fact, she hadn't seen her all day and she never missed dinner.

"What's wrong?" Gunn asked as he looked at her worriedly.

"Dawn is missing." Buffy said as she looked around the food court. "Has anybody seen Dawn?"

"She went to Doc's earlier because she cut her hand." Fred said as Buffy's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Taking off in a dead run, Gunn struggled to keep up with her as they went to Doc's office.

Opening the door they walked over to him as he sat at his desk and continued reading a book.

"How can, I help you two today?" Doc asked with a warm smile.

"Oh, I just wanted to know if you've seen Dawn?" Buffy asked flatly.

"Yes the poor dear came in here with a cut hand." Doc replied as he stood to his feet and leaned on his desk. "I patched her up and I haven't seen her since."

"You're lying." Buffy said through gritted teeth and narrowed eyes. To her point the good doctor looked on suspiciously before looking downward and removing his reading glasses. "Now I don't know what's going on but I want some answers."

With that, Doc smiled and suddenly leapt in the air and in a flash he was behind Gunn, who turned in surprise as the old man grabbed a sword that was leaning against the wall. With the sound of a metallic whisper in the air, he put the sword tip to the black youth's throat.

"Idiot." Doc whispered before lunging forward. He was surprised however as Gunn smacked the sword blade aside and fell to the floor, knocking over a pile of books onto himself.

Feeling Buffy coming up behind him, Doc opened his mouth and a super-long tongue came out, smacked her in the chest and slammed her back against a wall, before recoiling back into his mouth.

Falling to the floor with a grunt, Buffy rolled over and saw as Doc walked over to where Gunn was lying on the floor stunned. "You think only underworld bottom-feeders worship the beast?" he asked as he kicked Gunn in the face, then turned, grabbed an intricately decorated box off his table and threw it into his fireplace. Turning away from the fire, he walked back toward Gunn.

"Her day is coming, children!" the demon said as he grabbed Gunn by the front of his shirt. "And when she returns, then you're gonna see something."

Taking that opportunity Buffy jumped up and knee'd Doc in the chest, knocking him away from Gunn, before falling on top of him. As they grappled, Gunn hurried over to the fire and pulled the box out.

"Ow!" he yelped as the fire slightly burned his hands.

As Buffy and Doc continued grappling, the Slayer reached out and grabbed the sword, got up on her knees and plunged the deadly weapon downward, making blue blood spurt up into the air. Getting up, she wiped blue blood from her face and looked to Gunn for answers. With a grunt, he got up holding the box in both arms, before walking back over to her. The box was smoking slightly but appeared undamaged.

"What's in the box?" Buffy asked with a wince.

"Something worth dying for." Gunn answered as he looked down at the dead Doc. Opening the box he saw a crystal orb that gave off a yellowish glow. "What the hell is this?"

"It doesn't matter, I just want to know where Dawn is." Buffy replied as she took the orb out of the box and put it into her fanny pack. If things couldn't get anymore ominous it started to rain in sheets outside.

"Buffy you really need to see this." Gunn said as he looked out of the second story window. Walking beside him, her eyes widened as she saw figures in the darkness starting to surround the inn.

"We better see what's going on." Buffy mumbled as they walked out of the door.

Doc laid lifelessly on the floor of his office with the sword still sticking out of his chest, blue blood staining his shirt. Feeling that Buffy had left the room, his eyes suddenly popped open. Taking the sword out of his chest, he threw it to the side before standing to his feet. Even as his wound started to heal, he walked to a back door in his office and picked up a still unconscious Dawn.

* * *

As Buffy and Gunn walked onto the balcony, they saw well over five dozen zombies of all shapes and sizes surrounding the motel. Finding his voice Gunn pointed out into the crowd. Following his gaze, Buffy gasped as she saw a figure wearing a brown ceremonial robe standing in the middle of the dead.

Suddenly the figure threw it's hood back and through the downpour of rain, Buffy saw that it was someone that she literally had wished was dead.

"Hey Buffy!" Glory yelled out over the clap of thunder and rain. "You miss me!?"

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	9. Chapter 8 In All Her Glory pt 2

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys, I appreciate it. I'm not going to babel this time so just enjoy the chapter and keep reviewing.

Chapter 8

In All Her Glory pt. 2

"Glory?" Buffy whispered as she took a step back.

"Buffy what the hell is... who the hell is that?" Gunn asked as he gave her a sideways glance.

"I'm sorry." was all the petite blond would say of the matter as she looked away in shame. She should have told him about Glory. "Grab my backpack in my room and get everybody to the evacuation buses."

"But..."

"Gunn, just trust me." Buffy told him.

With a reluctant nod of his head, he slowly walked past her only for her to grab his arm. Looking back at her, she got on her tiptoes and kissed him softly on the lips. Both of them knew what the gesture meant. It was in case this was going to be the last time they saw each other. Watching him take off in a dead run, Buffy looked out into the street and saw the dead still marching forward.

Not seeing Glory in the mix of tangled dead corpses, sent a shiver up her spine. Moving with a purpose, she ran back into Doc's room for a quick weapon and had to stop in her tracks as she saw that the good doctor was gone and the window in the room was wide open. It seemed that she had been duped twice.

* * *

"What's going on?" Fred asked as Gunn burst into Jonathan's room. The two nerds were in the middle of their Friday night ritual of going over scientific theories and binge movie watching.

"What's going on is we got to get the hell out of here!" Gunn yelled as he ran over and grabbed her by the arm. "Come on we'll grab some of your stuff and then we'll go and get Anne and the others."

"Gunn what's..."

"We're being surrounded by dozens of zombies and they being led by somebody even Buffy is afraid of." Gunn cut Jonathan off. "Now grab your shit and help me get everybody to the evac buses."

"But my comics... my movies..." Jonathan said frantically as he looked around at all of his stuff.

"Jonathan what does any of it mean if you're dead?" Gunn asked as he gave the shorter man a look. "Grab some of your shit and let's get out of here." With that final warning, Gunn along with Fred disappeared out of the Mayor's room.

With a tear in his eye at all of the things he had to leave behind, Jonathan put some of his clothes, a few books, several first edition comics, and several magical artifacts in his duffle bag. As he was about to run out of the room, he looked at the nail under the glass case and went back for it, placing it in his pocket.

As he walked outside, he saw Gunn, Anne, and Fred corralling everyone to the bus. One of the people he didn't see getting on the bus, through the mist of the rain, was Amy and there was no way he was leaving without her.

* * *

"I don't think so bitch." Glory ground out as she moved ahead of her army of the dead. Pushing away anyone of them that stood in the way. "There's no way, I'm letting you get away from me."

Seeing a car parked in the front of the gate, Glory squatted down and in one amazing feat picked it up and with some effort tossed it over the motor inn wall, crushing the two men who were watching the gate to death.

Smiling at the two dumpsters that kept her and her army out of the Slayer's camp, Glory balled up her right fist, shook it, and blew in it like she was shooting dice. "Come on, mama needs a new key!" she yelled the last part out as she hit the dumpsters with enough force to send them rolling to the other side of the compound.

"Guess who's dinner?" Glory said as she narrowed her eyes and snapped her finger. As if that were ringing the dinner bell her zombies shambled forward.

Out of nowhere a group of guys ran up and began shooting guns at Glory and the zombies. As expected the bullets had no effect on the hell-goddess but they ripped into her minions.

Walking forward she brain sucked two men at once, before killing them by snapping their necks. Closing her eyes, it was like music to her ears as she heard the sound of screaming and demons biting into the unwilling flesh of their victims.

Her eyes snapped open in a flash as she heard a surge of electricity coming towards her. Being taken off of her feet, she groaned as she looked up and saw two women walking towards her. One was wearing normal clothing and the other was dressed like a skank. They couldn't be more of polar opposites of each other but both of them had their hands outstretched and one of them had an arch of power riveting from her hand.

Eyeing them carefully, Glory watched as her walkers ran forward to eat the women, only for an invisible shield to bounce them back. "Hmm, a mutant and a witch." Glory said as she looked at them both in turn and stood to her feet. "How nifty."

"Amy, no!" Buffy shouted as she ran behind them. Turning to look at her, Amy was unprepared as Glory hit her force field so hard, that it shattered it and sent the witch to the ground with a broken arm.

"Amy!" Jonathan shouted out as he and Gunn ran over to them.

"Get her to the bus." Buffy ordered as she looked up, her eyes stinging with tears and rain water, as she looked up at her more powerful enemy. "She's mine."

Picking the whimpering Amy off of the ground, Gunn cradled her in his arms as he looked at Buffy who was cutting a bloody path of devastation to get to the beautiful young woman in the robe. "Can't you help her?" he asked of Gwen, who was standing next to him.

"I can't." Gwen said as she looked from Buffy to Gunn. "Amy was focusing my power with her magick. If I try to use it now in this rain, we'll all go up like a Christmas tree."

"Then get her to the bus." Gunn ordered as he handed Amy over to her. Not being strong enough to support her weight, she let her lean on her instead. "The both of you. I gotta back Buffy up. If we're not at the bus in five minutes, leave without us."

Not waiting for their answer, Gunn leaned down and picked up a hand gun and a machine gun off of the ground. Making sure they were both fully loaded, he ran forward to help his girlfriend.

* * *

Buffy punched a demon in the face, while at the same time sending out a kick to another ones leg. Looking to her left she saw five of the ghouls shambling towards her. Knowing that this was probably it, she braced for impact only to her gunshots ringing out. Looking back she saw Gunn running towards her.

"Gunn, I thought I told you to..."

"I wear the pants in this relationship." Gunn cut her off as they went back to back. Feeling angry vibes coming from her, he amended. "I was going to feel guilty leaving you here alone, Slayer or no Slayer."

"I wanted to do this alone." Buffy said as she sent out a sidekick that snapped a zombies head back, where it fell haphazardly to the ground.

"You can't." Gunn argued back as he looked up to see the hell-goddess pacing and watching them. "Go."

"But..."

"I'll hold them back as long as possible!" Gunn yelled out as the sound of rain grew louder. "Just go!" as he yelled that out to her, he saw a crumbled form not that far from him. His voice caught in his throat as he saw that it was Anne. She was probably trying to save someone and got caught by the devilish ghouls. Using that as extra motivation, he attacked the undead with a new determination.

* * *

"You know what really makes me mad other then you keeping the key from me?" Glory asked as Buffy ran towards her. "It's being out in this damn rain. Do you have any idea how bad my hair is going to frizz up?"

Not bothering to join in on the banter Buffy ran forward only for Glory to punch her hard in the face. As she flew back Glory tried to kick her, but the Slayer stood up and blocked it and threw two punches of her own. Glory ducked one and blocked the other, and seeing an opening she landed another punch, sending Buffy sprawling to the wet ground again.

"That... that was a nice little plan." Buffy started as she tried to get to her feet. "Sending Doc here to spy on us. Now where the hell is my sister?"

When Buffy tried to get up, Glory kicked her hard in the face. Trying to punch her in the stomach, the goddess grabbed her wrist and threw her down. Buffy then weakly tried to hit back but Glory reached down and grabbed her by the throat.

"You know, I never understood how the hell you made it this long on the Hellmouth." Glory said making small talk as she started to choke her a little. "I guess the other people before me were really weak."

As Buffy got to her feet, after being tossed like a rag doll, she kicked Glory in the stomach, blocked a kick to the head, and landed one to Glory's face. Following up, she threw a punch but her enemy grabbed her arm, swung her around and threw her up against a wall. Buffy tried to move but Glory kicked off the base of the wall and kicked her in the lower back, sending her sprawling to the ground. Buffy then tried a left handed punch but the age old goddess grabbed her wrist again, jumped into the air and brought her knee up to her arm, causing a cracking sound. Satisfied that Buffy was defeated she threw Buffy, who bounced off a window, cracking it before slumping to the ground.

"This... this shouldn't... shouldn't take much longer." Glory said sluggishly as she seemed to have lost her equilibrium.

Taking that to her advantage, Buffy clutched her hurt arm, dropped into a roll and came up behind Glory, kicking her in the back of her leg. With one final show of power, Glory punched her in the face, sending her head first into a wall. Seeing through glazed over eyes, Buffy saw Glory coming for her. With each bat of her eyes, Glory got closer and closer until finally Doc was standing before her saying something into her ear.

With another bat of her eyelashes, Glory and Doc were gone, replaced with zombies that quickly started to surround her. With a silent sorry to Dawn, for having failed her, Buffy was about to embrace death when she suddenly heard the now distant sound of gunfire. With yet another bat of her eyelashes she saw Gunn standing over her and the zombies feasting on what was left of their community before she finally passed out from all of the pain.

Please review


	10. Chapter 9 We Always Have Hope

A/N Thanks to everyone that reviewed and please keep doing so. Also here's a shout out to sister Abigail. I'm glad everyone is liking this so far.

Chapter 9

We Always Have Hope

Groggily coming too, Dawn found herself on the floor of a beautiful lush apartment. Hearing the crackle of fire, she looked over to a fireplace and saw a figure half silhouetted in the darkness, sitting in a chair.

"He... hello." Dawn called out as the person's head snapped towards thier direction.

"Hello yourself sweetie." the person said back as they leaned into the light.

"Gl...Gl... Glory?" Dawn stuttered out as she jumped back with fear.

"Ke... Ke... Key." Glory mocked as she tossed the dress, she was holding to Dawn, who instintively took hold of one end. Glory still held the other end and she suddenly yanked on it, pulling Dawn to her feet, making them both face off. "Hmm, you wanna hear something funny? You've been here for a few hours now, and I haven't seen big sis galloping in to save you. She probably knows what a terrible mistake that'd be."

"She's not afraid of you." Dawn shot back making the Goddess smile. "And I thought that your time to use me was over anyway?"

"The ritual I needed to open a portal to my dimension is over." Glory told her. "On this end. Oh baby, I'm going to bleed you just a little so I can open up a portal to a dimension called Aylep. From there I can open up a portal to anywhere I want. The problem is, I'll need all the blood in your bony little body for that part." she said as she put her hand on the side of Dawn's scared little face. "The thing is I'm bettin' Buffy doesn't care. Since she's not really your sister, I'm guessin' she isn't gonna show. And if she does..." Dawn winced in pain as Glory's fingers tighten on her head. "...it might not be to save you. She might just want to see you burn." With a smirk Glory shoved Dawn to the floor next to the fireplace. "Now be a good girl for mama and shut the hell up. I gotta get prepared for a ritual."

"Buffy." Dawn whispered as Glory started to gather some things that she would need.

* * *

"Dawn!" Buffy yelled out as she sat up off of Gunn's lap.

"Hey, hey, calm down." Gunn said as Buffy looked around.

"How... how many of us made it?" Buffy asked seeing only a few faces around the campfire. That being Amy, Jonathan, Fred, and Gwen.

"Not many." her boyfriend replied sadly. "Besides us the few people that did make it split."

"Forget about that." Gwen said as she stood to her feet and walked over to the Slayer. "Who was that bitch that attacked our camp? From what Gunn told us, she was looking for you and specifically Dawn."

Looking at them in shame, Buffy told them all about Glory and what Dawn really was.

"You mean to tell me that a Goddess... an actual Goddess is after you and wants to use that thing as a key?" Gwen asked. "You should have given her that thing a long time ago and been done with it."

"Hey that thing is my sister!" Buffy shouted at her.

"News flash genius!" Gwen yelled back. "She's not."

"No." Buffy replied after a brief pause. "She's not. She's more than that. She's me. The monks made her out of me. I hold her ... and I feel closer to her than ..." she stopped as she looked down and sighed. "It's not just the memories they built. It's physical. Dawn ... is a part of me. The only part that I... I don't expect any of you guys to understand."

"From what you told us, Glory's original time table to go home is over." Jonathan spoke up. "But if she went through all of that to still get Dawn then that means that she probably found another way to get home. With all the raw power it'll take to do that, if and when this ritual starts, all realities will blend into one and every living thing in our and every other dimension will suffer unbearable torment and death ... including your sister."

"Then the last thing she'll see is me protecting her." Buffy replied with a tear in her eye as she choked up.

"If you die." Amy said as she cradled her broken arm, that Jonathan wrapped up for her. "We all will."

"Well thank all of you!" Buffy yelled as she stood to her feet. "For nothing." seeing her backpack next to her, she grabbed it and sat in the darkness far away from the group.

With a sigh Gunn waited a minute before following her. Seeing her sitting on a log, shivering, he silently sat down next to her. "You should go back and sit by the fire. Get warmed up."

"Are you sure, I'll be welcomed?" Buffy asked. "Gunn what am I supposed to do? This is like... my sixth apocalypse and I've always stopped them. I've always won. Except this one. I sacrificed so much to save the world and I knew ... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish that..." she stopped for a minute as tears fell from her eyes. "I just wish my mom was here."

"I wish, I had a lot of things back." Gunn told her quietly. "I wish that this damn apocalypse never happened. I wish those vampires had never killed my parents. I wish that my little sister Alonna... Alonna was here right now, but we don't have the luxury of wishes Buffy. All we have is this world and what little life is left in her. If this Glory chick begins the ritual ... if we can't stop her... I'll be by your side no matter what you decide to do."

"Go... go back and get warmed up by the fire." Buffy said as she leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. He always seemed to know the right thing to say. "I'll be there in a minute... and Gunn, thank you."

Watching her boyfriend walk away, Buffy sat in silence for a few more moments before she dug into her backpack. Taking out a flashlight, she saw the red journal from the news station, she had long forgotten at the bottom of her bag Taking it out, she started to flip through it's pages, stopping only as she got to the last page when she saw the word hope.

_To anybody reading this... hell if anybody finds this, this will be my last entry. If you've read this journal you know that I'm not the type to give up, and I only did what I did because I didn't want to turn into one of those monsters. I was bit when I tried to go out looking for food and I couldn't live with myself if I came back as one of those things and hurt somebody._

_If it wasn't for that, I'd still be around fighting and that's all that I really ask of anybody that reads what I'm about to write right now. Things are bad and they might stay that way for a long time but never ever give up hope. That's the one thing we really have now. I actually have one final request. If it's possible that if you ever see my wife Suzy and my little girl Lori, to tell them that I love them and I'm sorry._

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Hank." Buffy whispered as she sobered up a bit.

Feeling that sense of hope that Hank spoke of, she was about to close the book until a picture fell out. Picking it up she saw that it was who she assumed was Hank, a beautiful blond woman and a cute little girl. Pocketing the picture, she walked back over to the group.

"I don't have a right to ask any of you to risk your lives for me or Dawn so I'm not going to." she started as everyone looked over at her. "Every time I dream or go to Sunnydale , I keep feeling something calling me. So, I'm going to go there and find out what it is. Hopefully it's something that can help me stop Glory. Amy, all I need from you is to help me do a locater spell to help me find Dawn when I get back. I'll never ask you for anything else. And if... when I save my sister, if you guys don't want us to be a part of your group... especially after all that's happened, I'll understand." as she was about to walk off, Gunn suddenly grabbed her hand.

"We ain't letting you go alone." Gunn told her as he looked back at the others. "At least, I won't."

"I... I have to go to Sunnydale... alone." the Slayer told him. "You need to stay here and protect them, but if you want to help me when I get back..."

"I told you, I would." Gunn cut her off.

"And we're going to help you too." Fred spoke for the rest of them. Even Gwen of whom looked away angrily. She knew being with a group would get her killed one day.

Giving Gunn a kiss on the lips, Buffy disappeared into the night. That was until she got into Gunn's truck and drove off into said night.

Watching her leave, Jonathan looked away sadly. He had overheard everything that Buffy had said to Gunn and thinking back at their time in Sunnydale high together, every since she had come into town things had gotten a little better. All his life so many people he had become friends with had turned up missing or were found dead, but those numbers dropped dramatically once she came into town.

The one girl in all the world, who thought that no one noticed her or her sacrifices. The one girl who had finally been acknowledged at prom and was given an honorary award presented by himself. After all that she had given it was finally time for someone to truly give back, especially if it meant saving her little sisters life. He didn't want her to have to make that decision to have to kill Dawn or not. That was just too much for Buffy to bare and he knew that there was no coming back from that.

Making up his mind, he knew what he had to do. He just needed to get the others out of the way to make sure they didn't get hurt. Making sure no one was watching, he pulled a book called Darkest Magick out of his duffle bag. It was time to get a little dangerous.

* * *

Buffy stood on top of the highest building in Sunnydale with her eyes closed. It was nearly pitch black, the only light coming from the moon. Reaching out with all of her Slayer senses, she tried to call out to the person who had been talking to her in her dreams. She was suprised however, when she heard the females voice say, I'm here.

Snapping her eyes open, she suddenly felt a presence close to her. With wide eyes, she turned and saw a demonic monstracity behind her. It was seven feet tall and looked to be some kind of humanoid spider hybrid. Diving off the side of the building and landing on another one, the thing let out a high pitched scream before following her. That's when things went from bad to worse. Demon zombies of all shapes, species, and sizes started to crawl on either side of the building she was on and started to slowly surround her like a pack of wolves would a rabbit.

Closing her eyes for a second, she could hear their snarls and growls. They were getting too close. Opening her eyes, Buffy snapped out a side kick, that caught a demon square in the chest. The force of the blow took it off of it's feet where it crashed into several others. Using that distraction, she went into a full sprint and did a forward flip that turned into a roll as she made contact with another building. The ghouls snapped at her heels as they gave chase and she hoped for a ledge or even an ugly gargoyle so she could use to pull herself up higher and away from them.

With Sunnydale luck, there weren't any. Taking a hard right, she tricked a couple of them and made them fall off the side of the building. She didn't know how fast she was running, but she was nearly at the edge of the city and was running out of buildings fast. Slowing down some, she had to mentally plan a route to take, that wouldn't get her killed. Seeing a cemetery that she had patrolled hundreds of times, in the distance, she decided that it was as good a place as any to make her last stand.

Just as soon as Buffy had that thought, one of the demons reached out with skeletal hands and grabbed her arm from behind. Before letting the thing have her jacket, she thought to herself for something dead, how hot it's breath was on the back of her neck. Whipping out her 9mm and her Colt, she jumped backwards into the air and fired off every round that was in the chamber of both guns. As the shells hit the ground, so did the beasts. Panting heavily, as she laid on the ground, exhausted as she slowly put her weapons back into their holsters.

Forcing herself not to cry, at the near brush with death, she hopped off of the short building. Hearing a voice, she reloaded her Colt before walking through Rosefield cemetery. Opening the gate, she frowned as she saw a large pyramid shaped tomb.

How long has this been here? she asked herself. After all the time she had patrolled here she'd never seen it. Not really caring any more, she kicked the door down.

Not even letting the dust settle, she walked down into the tomb. It was lit inside, although dimly, by torches, giving it an orange hue. Looking around cautiously, she saw something stuck inside of a huge boulder. Walking closer to it, she saw that it was a red shiny weapon of some sort—it had a wide, rounded blade on one end, and a point on the end of the shaft. Her eyes widened as she stared at it in awe, because she knew that this is what she came for. Pulling it out of the rock, she held it high above her head and she knew that it was hers.

"I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten how young you would be." a woman's voice said behind her. Turning Buffy saw a very old woman with long white hair open the drapes in the room. "Comes from the waiting. Mind plays tricks. I see you've found our weapon."

"Who are you?" Buffy asked, even though she felt as if she could completely trust this woman.

"One of many." the old woman answered. "Well...time was. Now I'm alone in the world. A Guardian."

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	11. Chapter 10 The Last Magickian

A/N I'd like to thank Allen Pitt, sister Abigail, Noah, jedi over all, Life Sucks Read My Fanfic, Scifiromance, Angel's girl, weirdstoryreader, Twilight Warrior 627, and stargazer for your support and for continually reviewing my story. This will be the end of season one and it'll be awhile before I update season two. I hope you guys have been liking this story and I hope to hear what you think about this chapter and end to the season.

Chapter 10

The Last Magickian

Jonathan silently walked away from the evacuation bus after having finished doing a protection slash glamour spell. He had already put his friends to sleep, but while he was gone he didn't want them to get snacked on by and zombies or demons. As far as anything like that was concerned they'd just see a large stop sign. He and Amy had tried the spell on the motor inn but it would've taken too much power to maintain.

Letting out a breath, he double checked his locater spell to find Dawn, before hoisting a black bag on his shoulder and getting in his car. It was time to get this all over with.

As Buffy approached the evacuation bus with her scythe, she immediately knew that something was wrong. Shaking a sudden haze out of her mind, she peeked inside and saw her friends sound asleep. Tapping on the glass, she saw that they didn't rouse.

Deciding to open the door, she leaned in and started to shake Gunn until he jerked awake. "You guys were really exhausted, huh?"

"Man..." Gunn replied with a yawn. "...I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Hey..." Buffy started with a frown as she looked into the back of the van again at her friends. "...where's Jonathan?"

Glory's Apartment

Dawn knelt by a chair and arranged her sneakers neatly in front of it. Hearing someone coming into the room, she looked up when Glory began to speak.

"Okay, campers, it's almost stab time." Glory said with a smile as she clapped her hands. "You two, get her."

Scared for her life, Dawn took a step back as two of the hell-goddess' minions moved forward. "No. No! Aah! Buffy!" She continued to scream as the minions grabbed her arms and dragged her away. With a smile Glory watched them go.

"See you in a few." she called over her shoulder. Putting on the medieval styled dress that she had earlier, she walked down the stairs followed by her three minions. Clutching on the side of her head with a sudden headache, she started to walk a little unsteadily.

She stopped all together as the walls began to shake and rattle. Knick-knacks on the walls fell over and smashed to pieces, making Glory and the demons look around in confusion. Especially when the lights started to darken.

"Did anybody order an apocalypse?" Glory asked as she felt power coming in her direction.

The door suddenly flew open, revealing Jonathan floating several inches above the floor. Pumping into his magical abilities, he pushed a hand forward and a powerful gust of wind pushed Glory's minions crashing and screaming out of the high rise apartment window where they fell to their deaths.

"Hey, do you know how hard it is to find minions that worship the ground you walk on nowadays?" Glory asked as Jonathan started to mumble a spell under his breath. As he floated further into the room, she saw that his eyes were completely black. "Aww. It's the nerd." she said as she walked closer to him. "That's so cute."

"Let's see if you think this is cute." Jonathan said darkly. The air around Glory suddenly shimmered and she found herself not being able to move forward. Looking at Jonathan in surprise, she knew that she had definitely underestimated him.

Tapping into his newly found dark magical abilities, blue lightning flashed out of Jonathan's hands toward the hell Goddess, making her scream as she clutched her shoulders in agony. Pumping up the electricity, the dress she was wearing started to burn. Having had enough, Glory threw her arms to the side and dispelled the energy. With a look of awe, Jonathan saw that she wasn't harmed.

"Is that it?" Glory asked as her dress was still lightly on fire. "Is that the best you can do? You think I care about all this, the apartment, the clothes?" As she said that, she pulled off the shreds of her dress, revealing a black negligee underneath, before backhanding Jonathan, sending him flying backward, where he toppled over a sofa, before landing on the floor.

Body aching, the little man got to his feet, angrily with a small trickle of blood coming out of his mouth and down his chin. Not worrying about it, the black bag that he brought with him suddenly started to slide across the floor, before opening on its own accord.

"What's this?" Glory asked in amusement. "Bag of tricks?"

"No." Jonathan answered as he remembered a name from the dark books he had read earlier. "Dagon's sphere." as he said that the glowing orb levitated out of the bag and immediately started to make Glory dizzy. "It hurts you doesn't it?"

"Not as much, as I'm going to hurt you." she quipped as she picked up a coffee-table and threw it at him. With his left hand he blocked it with his power and sent it back at her, where it slapped her across the face.

With a snap of his finger, two inky black snakes appeared out of the carpet Glory was standing on and coiled themselves around both of her legs. Seeing that he had her on the ropes, Jonathan used his right hand to push the sphere forward and he watched as she got weaker and weaker.

Using her own magical power, Glory started to push the sphere back until it was hanging in mid-air, between them, un-moving. It was a perfect stalemate. That was until Glory got a little bit weaker as the moments passed. Pressing the advantage, Jonathan moved his right hand forward some more and with his left hand, he used his ability to open up her mouth so he could shove the sphere down her throat to make her implode.

That proved to be his undoing. As the sphere approached her, Glory snatched it out of the air. She watched as it lit up and it seemed to warp the air around it when it touched her hand. Trying to muster up the strength and with a pained expression, she dropped her hand to her side.

With a cry, she slowly crushed the sphere and the light went out as it crumbled. Her power slowly coming back to her, Glory shook her foot and the snakes crumbled into black sand. With a smile, she walked forward.

"No way." Jonathan mumbled to himself.

"Yes way." Glory replied, having heard him with her Godly hearing. "I gotta admit you almost had me there." With superhuman speed she grabbed him by the throat and made all of his power fade.

With a smile at Jonathan's screams, she started to beat him within an inch of his life. As he stood there with a closed eye, bloodied, and battered, she admired her handiwork before grabbing his arm and dragging him across the floor to where a large piece of glass laid. Scooping it up, she continued dragging him.

"No!" Jonathan yelled out.

"I don't understand you humans." Glory started almost as if this were a regular conversation. "People used to call me crazy when ths world was so called normal. What I used to see was over six billion lunatics looking for the fastest way out. Everyone's drinking, smoking, shooting up, shooting each other or just plain screwing their brains out 'cause they don't want 'em anymore. But then when the time comes for you to die, you're scared. Why?"

"Because... because mankind is bipolar." Jonathan answered as he tried not to choke on the blood that rose up in his throat. "We don't know what we want and when we get it, it's too scary because we don't know what's on the other side of the rainbow. Pl... plus life is kinda boring."

"You know that's the first honest answer, I've heard to that question since I've been stuck on this rock." Glory replied truly impressed.

"If you... if you liked that then... then I think you'll like my final surprise." Jonathan stuttered out as he reached into his pocket and took out the nail that he had in his display case back at the inn. Upon seeing it, Glory started to laugh.

"What... what were you going to do with a rusty old bloody nail?" she asked through a fit of laughter. "Make sure I needed to get a tetanus shot? Where did you get that thing from?"

"Off... off of Ebay." Jonathan replied with a chuckle himself as he quickly sobered up. "It was used on a carpenter."

Sobering up herself, Glory wasn't quick enough to stop him from jabbing the nail in his arm. In just that moment of time, Jonathan felt so much peace and power he knew he'd never feel again coursing through his body. Being surrounded by a heavenly glow he punched Glory in the face so hard that his fist went right through her skull, taking off the right half of her head and knocking her on the other side of the room.

As he fell to his knees, the door opened up and Buffy, Gunn, Fred, Gwen, Amy, and Dawn strolled into the room.

"You... you guys came." Jonathan wheezed out. "It's about time."

As he keeled over, Buffy was there to catch him, throwing her scythe, that dripped with Doc's blue blood, onto the floor. "Jonathan what the hell were you thinking?" Buffy questioned as she looked over to Glory's body.

"I...I was thinking about you." Jonathan stuttered out as he met her gaze with his one good eye. "You thought that... that nobody saw your sacrifices... what... what you had to give up."

"We could have done this as a team you little twerp." Amy said halfheartedly as she gently put a hand through his hair. Feeling dark magicks in the air, she knew that she could have joined him and he probably wouldn't have gotten hurt. Now that she thought about it, it always seemed as though he were trying to keep her from doing heavy duty spells or for that matter, magick at all.

"Jonathan... this wasn't your sacrifice to make." Buffy replied misty eyed, as she held onto him a little tighter. "I'm the one girl in all the world remember? This is my job, not yours."

"How selfish can you be?" he replied clearly. "Not my sacrifice to make? This... this world is ours and it's up to us to protect it. Plus... I owed you one." He said thinking about when they were in high school and she saved him from committing suicide.

"You put on a hell of a show, Jonno." Gwen spoke up. She was proud of the little guy for beating... well anybody, much less an actual Goddess. "Now come on let's help him up so we can get out of here."

"You're... not... going... anywhere." they all heard a feminine voice slur out. Looking up, the groups mouths collectively dropped as they saw Glory standing on the other side of the room, the right side of her head missing and dripping black ooze.

"What the fuck?" Gunn asked as the others shared his sentiment. Bringing up his ax, Buffy put her hand on his shoulder.

"I got this one." the Slayer told the group as she took a step forward. At that same exact moment, the rest of Glory's minions came into the room. "You guys take them. She's mine."

"Fred, you, Amy and Dawn watch after Jonathan." Gunn commanded as he and Gwen started to tear into the pale, scabby demons.

* * *

"My... my appearance... changes... changes nothing." Glory stuttered out as Buffy approached her. "Other... other then the fact... the fact that I'm... I'm going to take more joy out of tearing all... all of you apart."

"We'll see about that."

With that said Glory took a swing at Buffy, but the Slayer ducked quickly and adeptly without losing balance with moves even Neo of the "Matrix" would be proud of. Angered, the hell Goddess swung at her again, but Buffy jumped into the air and did a forward somersault over her, making Glory miss her again. Slowly Glory turned and swung at her, but Buffy did a forward somersault on the ground this time, staying out of her reach. With a smile Buffy stood up and ran with Glory in hot pursuit. Kicking a coffee table in Glory's path, the Goddess tripped over it.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled out as she tossed her the scythe.

Snatching it out the air, Buffy swung the scythe at Glory, but she grabbed it with ease, pushing her away. With blinding speed they fought, exchanging punches and kicks. Somehow regaining some strength Glory seemed much stronger than before, as shown when she tried to punch Buffy, who ducked and Glory instead punched through a wall.

Taking the advantage Buffy swung the scythe at Glory's head this time, but she ducked and threw Buffy against the wall. Glory then kicked her into the air and punched her in the stomach before she fell to the ground again. Rushing forward Glory kicked her in the head and grabbed the scythe, but Buffy kicked it out of her hands and into the air. Reaching up Buffy grabbed the scythe and kicked Glory to the floor. Knowing that it was now or never, Buffy went to stab her with the stake-end of the scythe, but with catlike reflexes Glory stopped her from plunging it into her chest. With a laugh, Glory pushed Buffy away making her fall to the floor; taking the scythe away from her and twirling it in her hands, she slowly walked toward her.

"Any... any famous last words, sweet cheeks?" Glory asked as she held the scythe high in the air, the damaged side of her head sluggishly trying to regenerate itself.

"Buffy no!" Dawn shouted out as she looked to the others for help. Gwen and Gunn were still busy with the demons and the others seemed powerless at the moment.

* * *

"Amy... Amy I wanted you to know that, I liked you ever since we were kids." Jonathan suddenly blurted out, as he looked up at the beautiful witch of whom's lap his head was still resting on. "Even when you were... over weight."

"Jonathan, why are you telling me..."

"I'm sorry." he cut her off as he put up his right hand. Using the last of his magick, he sent out an invisible force that pushed Glory backwards. With a tear in his eye, he suddenly burst into black ashes. With a scream Amy watched as the nail that was in his body fell to the floor with a metallic clang.

* * *

Seeing Glory being pushed back by something, Buffy kipped back up to her feet, grabbed the scythe and swung it at Glory with all her might, slicing her stomach. With a laugh, Glory stumbled back, laughed heartily, and fell to the floor.

"I want you to remember something, bitch." Buffy said as she leaned down and grabbed her around the throat. "In the few seconds you have left, in your most private moments, I want you to remember my hand at your throat. I want you to remember the one boy and the one girl who beat you!" with all the rage she had built up over the years, Buffy came down over and over again with her scythe. Primal rage feeling her heart, she came down with it again and again, almost getting lost, before Dawn called out to her.

Breathing heavily, she stopped swinging her weapon and glanced back at her little sister who looked at her nervously. "It's... it's over." Dawn told her as Gunn and Gwen came up behind her.

Snapping out of her trance, Buffy suddenly heard Amy crying. Looking down at the witch, who was still kneeling, she saw some black ash all around her. Thinking back to the fight, she remembered Glory being pushed back by something she couldn't see.

He used the last of his power and gave his life for me. Buffy thought to herself. That's another death... another debt on my soul that I'll never be able to repay.

With that thought in mind, she looked around the room and saw a gas canister in a corner, that she assumed Glory used to keep the generators for the building going. Walking over to it, she used what gas was left and poured it on the dismembered body of Glory. Not saying a word, she walked past her friends, only stopping a moment to give Gwen a look. Catching the meaning behind that, Gwen turned and snapped her finger, sending an electrical arc that caught on the gas, sending Glory's body up in flames.

Handing his ax over to Dawn, Gunn leaned down and carried the still crying Amy in his arms. As everyone started to walk out of the room, Dawn snatched up the nail that Jonathan had used. Taking one final look around and at Jonathan's ashes she walked out of the room, finally understanding the meaning of true sacrifice.

End of season one.

A/N I hope you guys have been liking this story so please review so I know what you think.


	12. Chapter 11 Dead Prayer

A/N Here is the prologue for season two. Enjoy.

Chapter 11

Dead Prayer

Throwing the last bit of dirt over Anne's body, Gunn threw down his shovel and walked over to the others. Earlier that morning they had gone back to the motor inn and gathered some supplies after finding that most of the zombies within had moved on after finishing their meal.

Wanting to at least bury his old friend, Gunn found Anne's body and buried it next to the marker that the gang had made in honor of Jonathan, since they couldn't bury his physical body. This area was as peaceful as they could find and they knew that it would be something that Jonathan and Anne would've liked. Standing together in the open field of sunflower's and daffodils, Fred was the one to ask the question.

"What do we do now?"

"We pray." Gunn whispered somberly as everyone looked to him. "Everybody close your eyes." Whether some of the young women believed in God or not, especially now, they still closed their eyes out of respect. "Dear Lord... we ask that you watch over Anne and Jonathan and all the people who died over the years. We also ask that you please forgive us for all the sins we have brought upon us and that you look down upon us with forgiveness for all the sins we will have to commit in the future. I know you understand that we ain't perfect, but we try, Lord. We try to keep our heads up in bad times and this is a bad time. We humbly ask that you show us the way. And if you can't show us the way, then forgive us for being lost."

"Amen." Buffy said as she snapped her eyes open and shot a zombie in the forehead that was trying to creep up on them. "Now let's go. It'll be dark soon and we need to find shelter."

Taking one last look at Jonathan and Anne's grave marker, Buffy rested her hand on it, before joining the others.

The Next Day

The group's vehicles crossed the highway in the direction that led towards Acton. Gunn led the way in his truck, while the others drove behind him in the evacuation bus. As Buffy looked at the scenery, as it passed by she smiled and then started to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Dawn asked as she looked up at her big sister.

"I ummm... it's nothing." Buffy replied as she returned to looking out the window. Feeling her sister's gaze on her, she let out a sigh. "Fine... I don't know what it is about being out here on the open road but it reminds me of when I ran away."

"That wasn't all that funny." Dawn commented dryly. From what she remembered, mom cried herself to sleep almost every night after Buffy had left. If it wasn't for Xander, Willow, and Giles showing up in their life at the time she didn't know what they would have done.

"No, not that time." Buffy corrected. "You might be too young to remember but I ran away from home with a friend of mine named Pike after my school gym from Hemery burned down."

"Really?" Dawn asked, perking up a bit. There always seemed to be so little that she knew about her sister, even though she did vaguely remember what she was talking about. "Where did you two go?"

"We went to Vegas." Buffy replied with another chuckle. "God, I can't believe I was a Vegas showgirl."

"What?" Dawn asked, bugging out. As Buffy told her of her adventure and then departure from her friend Pike, her smile faded as she remembered what happened when she had returned home. Her mother and father had believed that she was mentally unstable as she tried to tell them that vampires and monsters existed. They believed in that so much that they had her committed to an mental hospital. After she was taken out, after she pretended to have made the whole thing up, her parents had divorced and they were headed to Sunnydale.

Suddenly the bus jerked and Buffy was literally knocked out of her dark reverie as she hit her head on the back of a seat. "Ow." the Slayer whined as she rubbed her forehead. "What's going on?"

"It's a traffic jam from hell." Gwen commented as she turned around to look at her. Standing to her feet, Buffy moved to the front of the bus and looked outside.

They had now come upon a traffic snarl, with hundreds of derelict vehicles, abandoned or littered with corpses, impeding their route. Seeing Gunn, start his truck back up Gwen fell in line behind him as he led them through a snaked out path that was likely carved through by other survivors.

Making a little headway, they went between vehicles abandoned and sometimes inhabited by the dead bodies of their owners. After a few minutes of driving through, his truck suddenly stopped again. With a sigh, the gang got out and walked up behind his truck. As they got closer to it, he got out and started to shake his head.

"There's a car blocking our way." he explained. "We push it out of our way and we'll be good."

"Or maybe we should go another direction." Dawn piped up as she looked at her map and nervously pointed out a highway overpass a few miles back.

With a shake of her head Buffy dismissed it. "We can't spare the gas." the Slayer said as she looked back at her boyfriend. "Do you think you can push it forward with your truck or do you need me to move it by hand?"

"You think you strong enough for that?" he asked with a smirk as she gave him a playfully dirty look. With quick strides, Buffy blew past his truck and started to move the car that was ahead of them. "Wow, I can watch that girl work anytime."

"Gunn!" Dawn said loudly, making the urban knight jump slightly, and keeping him from further eye molesting her sister. "Are you sure you want to go through this?"

"No, it's not like we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no hope." he replied sarcastically. "We gotta push through."

"I mean... this place just reminds me of a graveyard you know." she said as she looked at all of the cars, vans, and trucks.

"A graveyard with plenty of stuff." Gwen said as she walked over to them. "There could be a lot of things here that can be useful. Like food, medicine, or maybe even water."

"I don't know about this." Fred said meekly as she stood beside Dawn. "Don't that seem kinda like desecrating this place?" The others stopped for a moment, but they didn't have time to think about the morality of the situation. They really could use anything that they could find.

"I don't think they'll mind, Fred." Gunn replied as he put a hand on her shoulder. "This is all about survival now. I'll get a hose and start siphoning out a few tanks. You guys... girls start checking out some of these cars and I'll join you in a minute. Be careful."

As they split up and started to check out the vehicles, Gwen looked around at her group. Buffy was just finishing pushing the car off of the road. All her life, she had felt like a freak and at the same time the most powerful woman in the world. That was until she met Buffy. If anyone could understand what it was like to be different it was her. Now she didn't quite feel alone anymore.

With Gunn, he strangely felt like a kindred spirit. Someone that she could confide in and be like a rock in her life. Dawn was the string that kept the group together and she seemed to represent what was left of innocence in a dying world. Fred was the mouse and the nerd in the group but after all that had happened to her she still stood strong. If that wasn't inspirational she didn't know what was.

And that left the young witch of whom stayed unnaturally quiet. Amy had been damn near catatonic ever since Jonathan had died. Hell she didn't even let out so much as a whimper when they had to reset her broken arm.

Seeing the other woman shaking slightly as she opened up the back of a car, Gwen was immediately by her side. Moving her out of the way slightly, she looked in the back of the vehicle, herself, and she gasped as she saw a bloodied baby seat. Looking to Amy with compassionate eyes, Gwen put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you..."

"Leave me alone." Amy said lowly as she stormed off.

* * *

"This isn't going to be easy for her is it?" Buffy asked of her boyfriend as she leaned against a car and watched Amy going to another vehicle to check it out.

"It ain't gonna be easy for any of us." Gunn replied as he finished capping off the gas canister. "Let's go and help the others and then we can get the hell out of here."

"Acton, here we come." Buffy said dryly as she looked up towards a sign that said they were less then twenty miles from their destination.

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	13. Chapter 12 Miles Behind Us

Chapter 12

Miles Behind Us

Two Weeks Later

An Abandoned House

As if sensing something, a walker slowly shuffled around and behind him another walker did the same. At that moment, the door behind them was kicked open and Buffy ran inside and shot one. She was followed by Gunn who stabbed the other, and Gwen with her crossbow. Dawn entered last with a gun. With a nod to each other, they all split up and started to walk around the abandoned house.

While Dawn went in the kitchen to seek food, Buffy searched the place for walkers. She opened a door, thinking a walker was behind it, but it turned out to be Gwen, who smiled at the sight of her. As Dawn killed a biter, Gwen and Gunn went upstairs. Wanting to check on her sister, Buffy joined Dawn in the kitchen, as Amy and Fred walked into the house. Startled by a squawking noise, Gwen blindly shot out a bolt from her arrow that hit a large bird that was perched on the window sill, instantly killing it. With a shrug, she picked it up and walked out of the room. There was no sense in letting it go to waste. Once they were sure the house was cleared, they all started to carry the bodies outside.

Going back out to the car, Amy and Fred re-entered the house with some empty bags. Dawn searched for food again, seemingly in vain and sighed when she only found a single can of dog food, which she put in her pocket. After a little while of searching the home for anything useful, everybody sat down in the living room, as Gwen shared the bird she had cooked over the fireplace, with the group.

Hearing Dawn use her can opener, they all watched as she sadly opened the can of dog food that she had found earlier. As she went to use her spoon to take a bite, Buffy angrily took the can away from her, and threw it roughly against a wall. The angry expression on her face said it all. They were better then that.

Feeling a little light-headed, Buffy also saw that her group also looked as exhausted as she was. Leaning back in the recliner to relax, Gunn looked out the window and saw walkers approaching the house. With a look of cold rage, the others saw what he was looking at and they got out of the house by the back door and ran to their vehicles. After throwing everything they found of value in the trunks, they drove off as the walkers tried to follow them.

After making it to the highway, they stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road, and got out. Buffy looked out for walkers as the others gathered together.

"I'm sick of this shit." Gwen said as she slapped a hand on the hood of her car. "We have to find some place to go."

As she said that Gunn took out a map and placed it on the hood of her van, so they all could see it. "We don't have many places left to go." Gunn said as he and Fred studied the map. "After what happened in Acton..."

"We're not going to try staying in another small town!" Buffy yelled as she walked over to her group. At her call they had went to Acton, only to find out that the little town had already been taken by the dead. "We'll double back on the highway and head towards Santa Barbara. We'll find somewhere on the outskirts of the city to hole up."

"That sounds good and all, but we don't have the gas." Gunn replied punching a hole in her plan. "Hell we running on fumes now. We ain't gonna make it that far."

"Why don't we go to this place called Frazier Park?" Fred suggested as she pointed at the location on the map that was already circled. "By my calculations it's probably around... a thirty minute drive from here."

"Well we better figure out somewhere to go soon." Amy spoke up as she looked off into the distance. "Fred and I did the numbers last night and that herd of zombies we saw a week back are going to be coming from all sides."

"You... you mean we're getting surrounded?" Dawn asked fearfully.

"That's exactly what, I'm saying." Amy replied.

"We'll go to Frazier Park then." Buffy addressed the group, even as she stared at her boyfriend. "It's your call."

Breaking eye contact with her, Gunn looked around at the other young women. "We'll head to Frazier Park and look for food, supplies, and a place to lay our head, even if it is just for a day or two."

With that said, they all got back into their cars and drove off. Just like Gunn predicted, they started to run out of gas halfway through driving to Frazier Park.

Frazier Park

Later That Day

"God, my stomach is touching my back because, I'm so hungry." Dawn complained as her stomach grumbled.

"Mine too." Fred replied as her stomach also grumbled. Lifting up their shirts, Fred and Dawn put their stomach's together and giggled as they listened to them grumble in unison.

Here they were on the verge of possibly starving to death, after searching cars and buildings for food and what Buffy saw was absurd but still made her laugh. She hadn't laughed in weeks and it made her feel good to see her sister having at least a little fun.

Lately she'd been falling down a pit of sorrow and despair and she needed this. That was until reality hit. Just as she was about to call the small town a bust, after only finding a few cans of tuna and no water, they suddenly heard gunshots in the distance.

"Did you guys hear that?" Dawn asked as she put her shirt down.

"Survivors." Fred said with a smile as she looked to the others.

"They're obviously shooting at something." Buffy commented loosely as everyone looked at her. "Let's just use that as a distraction, finish finding what we can and get out of here. Whatever's happening isn't our business."

"It's always our business." Gunn replied with a frown. If someone was in trouble it was always their business to help. "Look I know we're all tired but if we find other survivors we have a better chance at living. Let's just find out where the shots are coming from and do a little recon."

Seeing that the others were in agreement, he gave one last look at Buffy before taking the lead. The shots seemed to be coming only a couple of blocks from where they were and they were led to a nice gated community with several houses within it's walls. A wall that was now being attacked by a hairless ten foot giant of a monster and being defended by what looked to be two soldiers and a handful of civilians.

Giving each other a look, they decided to join in on the fray. With a snap of her finger, Gwen sent out an electrical arc that caught the creature on the back and made it stumble off of the metal gate. With a roar, it turned and looked at them as the soldiers and the others stopped and looked over at them.

"All right guys." Buffy announced as she took the Slayer's scythe off of her back. Fred and Gunn had made a back harness for the deadly weapon a few days ago. "Big, tall, and ugly is mine."

"No Buffy." Dawn replied as she stepped in front of her big sister and brought up her sniper rifle. "I got this. Focus." as she said the word, that was more like an incantation, her eyes suddenly flashed white for a second. Getting full clarity, she got the monster within her sights and started to roam it's body. Seeing a pulsing heart on the outside of it's body, she fired off one round and hit the target square in the middle, making it fall to the ground with a horrible wail, dead.

"Is anybody else a little scared at how good she is?" Gwen asked as they heard the gate starting to clink open. Making sure the monster was indeed dead, they looked as it was bleeding out on the street, before looking up to see people coming out of the gate and approaching them.

"Hey, thanks for helping us." the male soldier said in a familiar voice, as three others walked up behind him.

Hearing the voice, Buffy moved from behind her group and looked towards her former flame. "Riley?" she asked as she looked at him and his group. One woman she didn't recognize and the boy she could've sworn she had seen before, but the other woman that stood out was her sister Slayer and was supposed to be dead. "Kendra?"

Warrenville

Warren's Secret Room

"God damnit, we lost the feed!" Warren Mears shouted as he slapped at his monitor. He had placed a camera on the giant that he had sent to test Jesse and his gangs defenses and just like a light, it had quickly went out. He knew that Jesse and Kendra had to be lying to him about not being a part of a group and it seemed that they had a few members of the military working with them.

"Do you want me to send another demon... or maybe Brock..."

"No." Warren replied with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't want them to suspect that we had anything to do with this attack. It has to look random. We'll just have to take them out at another time." there was no way he was going to let them keep all of their supplies. It took a lot of power to run Warrenville and he would take whatever he wanted.

"Wait, I'm pulling up the last of the footage." Andrew Wells was saying as he typed into his laptop computer. The last of the fading images was Dawn shooting the giant monstrosity but Warren saw more.

"Go back and zoom in as far as you can on the left." he ordered as an image of Buffy showed itself on the screen. He tried to zoom in on three others but they had their heads turned in the opposite direction of the camera.

"Did one of your androids go rouge?" Andrew asked as he looked back at the other man.

"No." Warren replied as he closed the laptop. "That was the Slayer." now his plans really might be ruined. As he sat down, he started to come up with something else he needed to do to get rid of Jesse and his pals and a sick grin popped up on his face.

A/N I know some of you are probably wondering how Kendra is alive in this world so go and read my story The Last of Us so you'll know what's going on. Please review both stories.


	14. Chapter 13 Remember

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys. This chapter is basically going to deal with the groups moral but things will start to pick up soon.

Chapter 13

Remember

"Ken... Kendra?" Buffy stuttered as she looked at what was once her replacement. All that guilt she felt over her death for so many years seemingly started to fade away. It looked as if she hadn't aged a day, especially for someone that was supposed to be dead. "How are you..."

"It's a long story." the mocha skinned beauty replied with a smile as they gave each other a strong hug.

"We can talk about everything inside." Riley spoke up as he looked from Buffy to the dead giant that lay not fifteen feet from them. "Who knows if more of those things are out here."

"That's going to be one hell of a clean up." the man standing beside Kendra quipped as he looked to the dead demon too. Seemingly out of the clear blue sky a crackle of lightning fell from the heavens and made the giant burst into flames.

With a nod and a smile to Gwen, Buffy suddenly looked to the other group. "You guys better be lucky we're here."

Matching Riley and Kendra's stride, Buffy and her group walked through the gates of the community. Looking around they saw houses that seemed to be untouched by the apocalypse. After a few minutes, they walked up to a beautiful big house on the hill.

Going into the house first, Riley cleared his throat. "Look alive ladies!" he said loudly as two young teenage girls jumped from behind a couch.

"Is that thing gone?" the hispanic teenager asked. "Did you kill it?"

"It's gone, Caridad." Riley replied with a smile. "And no, I didn't kill it. She did." he said nodding towards the younger Summers' woman, who suddenly ran into his arms. "I'm happy to see you too Dawn." he replied as he returned the hug and heard her stomach grumble. With a smile he looked at Caridad again. "Would you show Dawn where to get washed up and get her something to eat?"

"Sure." Caridad said with a smile as she looked at Dawn. "Come with us."

Happy that there were people her age here and food, Dawn followed up behind them.

"Hey chief does that food and shower offer extend to the rest of us?" Gwen asked as Riley and the other man gave each other a look.

"Yeah." Riley replied quickly. "We can talk later if you want to Buffy? I know you're probably hungry and..."

"No, I wanted to talk to you... all of you now." Buffy cut him off as she gave Gunn a look. "Gwen, Fred, Amy... you guys go on ahead and get something to eat."

"Come on, I'll show you ladies where to get something to eat." the woman soldier that was standing next to Riley said as she directed the three ladies on where to go.

"This whole apocalypse thing is crazy huh?" Riley asked of Buffy as he walked towards her. Even though he saw a dangerous glint in the eyes of the black man that was standing next to her, he still decided to extend his hand to him. "I'm afraid we weren't introduced."

"The names..."

"Gunn." Buffy said nervously as she cleared her throat. "His name is Gunn... my Gunn."

"O...kay." Riley said with a raised eyebrow, even as Gunn reached out and shook his hand.

"My name is Charles Gunn and I'm Buffy's boyfriend." Gunn said as he tried to gauge the other man's reaction. To his surprise, the soldier looked relieved.

"I'm glad you...the both of you could find happiness in this mess." Riley said with a genuine smile. "I don't know what I'd do without Sam."

"Sam?" Buffy asked, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest.

"The woman that just showed your friends where the food is." Riley responded. "She's my wife."

"Your... wife?" Buffy asked slightly deflated.

Seeing that look in her eye, Gunn suddenly gave a rueful smile. "Hey dog, I'm hungry myself." he said to Riley as he grabbed his stomach. "The kitchen is this way right?"

"Yeah... I..."

"Enjoy your chat." Gunn cut off the soldier as he swiftly walked out of the room before Buffy could say anything.

"I hate to disturb this episode of All My Children but maybe we should move this conversation into the den." the other man Buffy couldn't remember said as he saw what was going on.

Following his lead, Buffy walked with the group into a plush expensive looking sitting area, promising herself that she would talk to her boyfriend later. Not being used to being in a place that hadn't been affected by the end of the world, she fidgeted a little as she put her scythe down before sitting down on the lazy boy in the room.

"Well let's get started." Riley suggested as Buffy looked from him to the other man.

"Before we do, I wanted to ask why you look so familiar to me?"

"I didn't really expect for you to remember me at all." the man told her. "I died after a day of first meeting you. My name is Jesse."

"Jesse..." Buffy mumbled his name out loud. "You were... you were Xander and Willow's best friend before I came into town." She'd remembered that Willow had cried all night over his death and Xander didn't seem to grieve at all, as if he had to get used to losing so many people in his young life. "But how did you..."

"It was because of Willow." Jesse cut her off with a sad look on his face from being caught in dark memories. "She did a resurrection spell to bring back her best friend and the Slayer."

"According to de spell, she couldn't call on de names of de people who died." Kendra continued. "Dat's why she didn't expect for us to find her."

"Man that was a horrible day." Jesse said with a smile, despite the memory. "I woke up at the Bronze and Kendra found me. We went to your house to try to find you and I thought I saw a zombie in there that was you."

"It had to be Teresa." Buffy replied after thinking for a moment. "When all of this first happened we took in a few people and one girl looked like me."

"What happened to you?" Kendra suddenly asked.

Not wanting to make the same mistake with this group that she did with the last, Buffy told them the truth about Dawn, them falling into a portal, living with and getting trained by Sgt. Aaron Jones and what they went through with Glory. To her surprise, her sister Slayer just nodded in understanding.

"I... I woke up in de burned down ruins of your old high school." Kendra continued the story. "After gathering some weapons, I found Jesse and we went to his old house for a couple of days and then we found Willow and Spike." after she said that, she told her all about how they had found this place and about Adam and how his experiments led to the zombie apocalypse happening in the first place.

So, I was following these two the whole time. Buffy thought to herself as she remembered them saying that they stopped for a night at the gas station she and Dawn had been to on the outskirts of Sunnydale. And damn Adam. I thought that I was done with him forever. What a sick legacy for him to leave behind.

"That's not the worst part." Jesse added. "Awhile ago we went to the CDC and... we found out that all of us are infected. It doesn't matter how you die, you'll come back as one of them."

"Dawn." Riley said as he stopped pacing around, making everyone look at him. "Maybe we can use her to skip dimensions." seeing Buffy getting angry, he rushed to continue. "We'd most likely only use some of her blood to open up a rift to another dimension so we can get out of here."

"Someone already suggested that." Buffy replied calming down a little as she thought about Jonathan. "My teams sorcerer told me that we'd probably only end up infecting another dimension with this stuff if we left."

"So... we're stuck here." Riley replied glumly.

As they all sat there in a funk, Buffy caught Kendra eyeing her scythe like a kid looking at a new toy. With a smile, she handed it over to her.

"Why does dis feel like it belongs to me?" Kendra asked of Buffy as she was given the Slayer's scythe. There was just so much power that coursed through her body. Such heritage.

"The guardian lady that gave it to me said that it belonged to the Slayer." Buffy replied as she took the weapon and placed it back on the floor.

"Where is she?"

"I was eyeing the scythe just like you were and when I looked up she was gone." Buffy answered with a hunch of her shoulders. Thinking about weapons, Buffy reached into the back of her belt loop and handed her a wooden stake. With shaking hands, Kendra took it from her. "Mr. Pointy was the last thing I grabbed before I abandoned my house. I wasn't going to leave without it."

"But you kept it..." Kendra said tearfully as she looked back up at her. "... all dis time?"

"A friend loaned it to me." Buffy replied with a tiny smile. "I'm just giving it back."

"Why are they making such a big deal out of a stick?" Jesse whispered over to Riley who hunched his shoulders.

As the two girls finished reminiscing, Buffy finally became all business like. "So that giant thingy that Dawn killed..." she started. "... what's up with that? Was it a random attack or..."

"We think that it came from a guy named Warren Mears." Jesse said cutting her off.

"Warren?" Buffy asked through narrowed eyes.

"You've heard of him?" Riley asked as he sat down across from her.

"Yeah..." Buffy said thinking back to a time that would never come again. "Before... all of this happened, that creep made a sexbot named April and when he got tired of her, he left her to die... well he left her so her battery would run out."

"A sexbot?" Jesse asked as Kendra slapped him on the back of the head. "I... I mean he's upgraded now." he said getting serious. "He has his own town about forty miles from here that he happily named Warrenville. From what I can tell, he has like four or five of those sex...robots protecting him and his town. He also has a big muscle head being his right hand man."

"I admit that Warren's a major jerk but why do you think he tried to take you guys out?" Buffy asked as she looked around at the group. "I mean we're all human and we're trying to survive. We're in this together... right?"

"Buffy the world has changed and people are showing their true nature now." Riley told her. "God if you could've seen all of the horrible things that I saw in Brazil after this all went down. I... I lay awake at night sometimes because I can still hear the screams of the women and children that people destroyed the lives of." he admitted. "What I learned is we have to fear the living and fight the dead."

"When me and Kendra found Warrenville, the walls of it were surrounded by hundreds of demon and human skulls." Jesse went on. "He was acting all friendly but I could tell that something was weird about him. Before we left, a woman pulled me to the side and told me that Warren is really a monster and he'll kill anybody that get's in his way."

"When Jesse and I refused to stay in his community, I saw a small twinkle of cruelty in his eyes." Kendra spoke up. "He tried to hide it with a smile, but I saw it. We never told him of our community but I find it odd that we were attacked by dat ting so soon after returning home."

"I think he believes we're a threat because we're two unknowns outside of his community." Jesse thought aloud. "That's why I think, he sent that thing to kill us. And when that thing doesn't show back up, he's probably going to come looking for us to see what happened."

"But he won't be expecting us." Gunn said as he walked into the room, having overheard half of their conversation. "We'll do a little recon of his spot first and we'll go from there."

"You sound like you have a plan?" Buffy asked of him as she gave him a smile that he didn't return.

"Don't, I always?" he asked as he looked to Jesse. "All I need you to do is give me directions to this place, and a list of what defenses you saw and I can go from there."

"Okay." Jesse replied as he and Kendra shared a look. "We should have something drawn out for you by the morning."

"Good." was all the black youth said as he quickly walked out of the room. As Buffy looked to Riley, he gave her a look that said that she needed to talk to her man soon, or what they had together would be destroyed.

* * *

Amy sat on the back porch of Jesse and Kendra's home and cried. It had been the first time since they were on the road that she had sat down and truly grieved over the deaths of Jonathan and all of the friends she had made at the motor inn.

Seeing as though this was the safest place she'd been in awhile, now seemed as good a time as any to let her guard down just a little so she could remember all of those who hadn't made it. She smiled a little however as she thought about the last thing Jonathan told her when, he died in her arms. I liked you even when you were overweight. All those years they had known each other, it took the apocalypse to happen for him to tell her his true feelings. The thing about it was, she felt the same way about him.

Before she could fall into another crying fit, someone placed a wine cooler in her face. Looking up, she saw that it was Gwen who was offering the beverage, that she happily took.

"I miss him too." Gwen said as she sat down next to her. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Gwen decided to open up a bit. "When I was a kid my parents gave me up and sent me to a boarding school in Wisconsin because of my powers. They never... they never came back for me and my whole life I always felt like a freak. When I got older, I fell into a... bad crowd and I used my talents to become a thief. After the world went to hell and I helped and joined Gunn's gang, Jonathan was the first person, I saved and he never treated me like I was a slut or a bad person. Even after he found out that I had powers and was a thief, he never judged me and he still thought that I was the most beautiful woman in the world. At least until you came along."

"Why... why are you telling me this?" Amy asked, as she rubbed the wine cooler bottle over her new cast. Lexie had reset her broken arm and placed it in a cast for her.

"Because Jonathan cared about both of us." Gwen answered as she caught her gaze. "The least we can do to honor his memory is to be nice to each other."

"I think we can do better then that." Amy replied as she stood to her feet. "Come on."

* * *

"This is all that I can remember from that place." Jesse was in the middle of saying as he drew a less then detailed map of Warren's community.

"It'll have to do." Gunn replied as he took the paper and started to examine it. "All, I need is for you to give me directions to this place."

"Are you sure you don't want some back up?" Samantha asked as she walked over to the table.

"Yeah man, we don't know much about this Warren guy and he could be more dangerous then we think he is." Riley added. "I mean, he did possibly send that giant demon to attack us."

"That's exactly the reason you ain't coming." Gunn said as he folded the paper and put it in his back pocket. "For Warren to know where to send the giant, he's probably been watching you guys for awhile. We just got here and even if he's seen us we can say things didn't work out here and that we want to join his community. I'll pick somebody to go with me and we'll keep in contact with you guys by radio."

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Amy and Gwen walked into the room. "Hey Gunn, you busy?" the young witch asked.

"Yeah, we're planning on how to take on that Warren guy." he answered.

"Well can it wait?" she asked as the gang all looked at each other.

* * *

Amy stood in front of a huge bonfire wearing a white dress that she had borrowed from Lexie. Turning she saw that the others were looking at her strangely.

"Ummm... so what is this about?" Buffy asked as Gwen started handing out pens and pieces of paper.

"This is a remembrance ceremony." the witch answered. "All you have to do is write down the names of the people you've lost and throw the piece of paper into the fire."

"Ummm... why?" Fred spoke up.

"Because it's the only way we can move on." Amy answered. "It'll let the dead know that we're still thinking about them and that one day we'll see them again."

Surprisingly enough Riley was the first person to step forward, followed by his wife. After writing down the names of their parents, Riley added the name of his best friend Graham before throwing it into the fire. As they walked away the two teenage girls, Caridad and Alexandria came forward and put down the names of their siblings and their parents. Kendra came next and wrote down the name of Mr. Zabuto and Jesse wrote down the names of his parents, Willow, and Xander. All of the other survivors then started walking forward until only Gwen, Amy, Kendra, Buffy, Dawn, Gunn, and Fred were left.

With shaking hands and a tear in her eye Fred reluctantly wrote down the names of Angel, Cordelia, Wesley, and her parents. She didn't know if her parents were dead or alive but being honest with herself, she prayed that they were gone so they wouldn't have to live in a world where the dead walked and ate people. Tears freely flowing down her cheeks, she was caught off guard when someone placed an arm around her shoulder. Looking up she saw that it was Gunn. Taking the paper out of her hand, he threw it and his own in the fire. He watched as the names of his parents, Anne, the few friends he had from his gang, and his sister was consumed by the flames before walking off with his petite friend.

Finally finding the courage to forgive her mother for her abuse all of those years ago, Amy wrote down her name before putting down Jonathan's. "I'll miss Mayor Mc Hard-bunns too." Gwen said as she looked over her shoulder and saw the man's name. With a smile, they walked off leaving Buffy and Dawn.

"Mom, I miss you everyday." Buffy whispered as she put Joyce's name on the paper before jotting down the names of Angel, Willow, Xander, Hank, and Giles.

"You're forgetting somebody." Dawn said as she took the paper and wrote down Spike's name. With a smile, she watched her little sister throw the names into the fire. In a weird way, Buffy did feel better and looking around at the gang she saw that they seemed to blow out a collective sigh of relief.

Looking further out into the yard, she saw two graves. Lowering her head in sadness, she read the name Daniel "Oz" Osbourne on one of the grave markers. Her heart going out to him, she just hoped that, he was resting in peace and that he was with Willow. And hopefully wherever they were, he and Tara weren't fighting over said red headed witch.

Walking over to her boyfriend, she suddenly placed her hand in his. Already knowing that it was his girl, Gunn gently squeezed her hand. He had already decided to forgive her.

The Next Day

Gunn, Buffy, and Dawn's House

Upstairs Bedroom

Waking up with a smile, Gunn quickly frowned as he didn't feel his girl in his arms. Opening his eyes, he looked around and didn't see her anywhere. Seeing the terrace door open, he got up and saw his girlfriend sitting down on a red checkered picnic blanket.

"Good morning, sleepy head." Buffy greeted with a smile as she poured her boyfriend a glass of water.

"What is this for?" Gunn asked as he accepted the glass and sat down next to her.

"What, I can't fix breakfast for my man?" the Slayer asked as she handed him a plate with strawberries, a couple of pieces of toast, and an omelet.

"There's no way you cooked this." Gunn said as he ate a piece of omelet.

"What... why not?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because it's good." Gunn mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Oh, ha ha." Buffy mock laughed as she threw a napkin at his head. "Dr. Carver has a strawberry patch behind her house, Kendra made the bread with a bread maker, and that Henry guy found some chickens and has a chicken coup. You can at least give me credit for toasting the bread." she said as they both chuckled.

"Jonathan and Anne would have loved this place." Gunn said as he sobered up and looked around at the beautiful houses that surrounded them. Looking further down, he saw solar powered generators and a windmill in the distance.

Sitting in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, Buffy had to know what other member of her family was going to be put into danger. "Who do you plan on taking with you today?"

"The obvious choice would have been you." Gunn admitted. "But you said that you know Warren and he knows that you're the Slayer. Dawn ain't ready for something like this and Warren has probably seen every girl from this group. So that just leaves Amy and Fred."

"Wait, what about Gwen?"

"I can't risk anybody touching her skin." Gunn answered. "We need to seem as weak as possible so he'll accept us into his group. Like I said this is just a little recon so we can figure out what he's all about."

"Amy is putting on a strong front right now but I can tell that she's still hurting from the loss of Jonathan and waking up in this nightmare of a world." Buffy informed him. She needed him to know that she was once in that dark state of mind and she now saw it in Amy's eyes. "I'm going to start talking to her to make sure she doesn't snap."

"So that leaves Fred." Gunn replied with a smirk. "That girl went through hell in Pylea. This should be a cake walk for her."

"I just don't like you going out there with someone that doesn't know how to defend themselves."

"Fred's a tough girl." Gunn said making her reconsider. "Just trust me when I say we'll be fine."

A/N Please review... I also wanted everybody to know that this is a different Warren that's being dealt with here. With the world ending and him being put in charge of an entire town and seeing all that death, his head is really messed up now and he's on a major power trip. You'll see what I mean as this story progresses.


	15. Chapter 14 Come Back In One Piece

Chapter 14

Come Back In One Piece

"You understand what we have to do when we get to Warrenville don't you?" Gunn asked as he drove his truck towards where Jesse told him the city was. They had doubled back into Frazier Park for it and filled it up with gas.

"Yeah... yes, I know what to do." Fred replied almost nervously. "Everybody thinks... that I'm weak and they baby me but I can do this."

Putting a gentle hand on her knee, he seemingly steeled her nerves. "Good. Now let's get this show on the road."

Driving for awhile in silence, Fred looked out of her window and smiled at the beautiful scenery. It still amazed her that there was so much death in the world now but still so much unspoken beauty left.

"I didn't tell Buffy about this part of the plan, but I think we should play like we're boyfriend and girlfriend." Gunn spoke up after several minutes of driving.

"Why?" Fred asked in confusion.

"Because if we go in there being friends or you just being some lady I saved they might insist on separating us."

"But if we say we're together they won't." she finished for him.

"Exactly." Gunn replied with a crooked smile. "We'll stay in the same room and report back to each other, anything that we might see that's wrong or out of place. So for this mission, I'm your man."

"And I'm your girl." Fred said happily as she bounced in her seat before grabbing his hand and laying her head on his shoulder. It wasn't that she didn't like Buffy, but in her mind she and Charles belonged together.

With a bemused smile at his friend, Charles kept driving until his mouth dropped open. From his vantage point the gated community before him had to be well over three times the size of Jesse and Riley's gated area. What made him look at it in awe, however was that the brick and wood wall that surrounded it was littered with demon and what seemed to be human skulls.

"Wow." Fred murmured as she looked up from his shoulder.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Gunn mumbled as he saw some figures approaching them. As they got closer, he saw that they were three drop dead gorgeous women wearing summer dresses. "Gotdamn those girls are fi... I mean, these gotta be the sex-bots that Jesse and Kendra told us about." Gunn said clearing his throat. "Stay cool."

As the girls approached his truck, he rolled down his window.

"Hi, I'm Dana." the lead girl greeted in a friendly manner. She had a plastic smile that seemed so unnerving.

"Hi." Gunn replied as he and Fred shared a look.

"Are either of you bit?" the girl asked. It was at that moment that he saw the other girls tightening their grips on their weapons.

"Naw we ain't bit." Gunn replied as the girl smiled at him again.

"Good, now why are you here?"

"Because me and my girl..." Gunn stopped as he put a hand on Fred's knee. "...been out on the road for a long time and we barely surviving. We loaded up the last of our stuff and we been driving for days trying to find someplace to settle. We lost a lot of friends on our trip and we're all that's left."

"Oh, that sounds cool." Dana said happily, oblivious to the incredulous look that Fred and Gunn was throwing her way. "You wanna come live with us?" she asked as she pointed to the compound in the distance.

"Yeah... that sounds... cool." Gunn replied with a shake of his head. This was too easy.

As Gunn pulled his truck up to the main gate of Warrenville, he and Fred looked up and saw two girls on top of a guard walk patrolling the gate. Their mouths dropped open as the main gate slowly opened and they saw an actual real life city inside. It was yet another thing that seemed to be untouched by the apocalypse.

Being directed through the gate and parking off to the side, the android women suddenly surrounded his truck. "We need all of your weapons." Dana suddenly said.

"What? Why?" Fred asked as the girls opened up their doors and took them out of the truck.

"Because weapons aren't allowed to be carried in Warrenville unless his handsomeness says so." another one of the androids, Margeret spoke up with the same plastic smile as the others.

"We don't know you two and we're sworn to protect the people that live in this city." Dana added. Giving each other another look, Gunn and Fred reluctantly handed over their weapons. "Cool, now come with me so Doctor Sandra can give you two a check up."

"When do we see the man in charge?" Gunn asked as he and Fred fell into step with Dana. Keeping a watchful eye on the other sex-bots, he watched as they happily walked off to do God knew what.

"When he asks for you." she replied as Fred looked around and saw an elderly woman eyeing them carefully as they walked by. Clutching Gunn's arm harder, they walked to an actual small medical ward, rather then the motel lobby that they had converted to one while they stayed at the motor inn.

Going into one of the offices, they saw an older heavy set black woman waiting for them. Introducing herself as Doctor Sandra, she began an examination on the both of them. Determining that they weren't infected with the active strain of the virus, but rather the version that stayed dormant, she gave them a friendly smile before walking out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Gunn asked as he sat down next to Fred. "The doc didn't even give us a lollipop."

With a chuckle they watched as a young white male, probably around Gunn's age walked into the room. With just one look at him, one could tell that he and Fred had a lot in common because both of them were nerds.

"Sorry to keep the both of you waiting." the man said with a friendly smile. "My name is Warren Mears and I'm the leader of this... community."

"Names Gunn." Gunn greeted as he reached out to shake the other man's hand, before nodding back to his companion. "And this is my girl, Fred."

"Fred?" Warren asked as he shook the petite woman's hand. "That's a unique name for a girl."

"Oh... silly it's short for Winifred." Fred said as she goofily laughed. Smiling himself, Warren held onto Fred's hand a little longer then he should have, making Gunn give him a look. Noticing it, the king of the nerds let go of her.

"I know that you both probably have a lot of questions but they'll have to wait until tomorrow for the interview that I've scheduled for you."

"Interview?" Gunn asked as he and Fred gave each other a look. "What kinda interview?"

"An interview to see if you two can fit into this community." Warren told them both firmly. "People are showing their true natures in the end of days and I can't let just anybody in here. I won't let anybody destroy what I built here. I hope you understand that?"

"We got you dog." Gunn answered with a nod as Warren smiled.

"Good, now follow me."

With that said, the trio walked out of the medical ward and back out onto the street. Night started to descend and as they started to walk, Gunn and Fred looked around and saw a few areas that were still under construction but still it seemed to be a big beautiful city. Making note that he hadn't seen anyone, they were led to an apartment building. It wasn't anything too fancy, but what could you expect in the apocalypse.

Following him to a door, Warren took a master key out of his pocket and opened the door to an apartment. As the door opened, they saw a queen sized bed, a shower, actual running toilets, and other pieces of furniture.

"I know this has got to be more comfortable to you then being out on the road." Warren commented with a dry smile. "It's not exactly the four seasons, but there's a hot shower. I got some guys finishing the towns irrigation and sewer systems so water's limited. Just keep your showers short. Maybe like five minutes a piece. We got food, water, fresh clothes, hope this works for the both of you." as he said that they took a look at the room and Fred immediately sat down on the bed. "I know you'd feel better with your ax, which is cool by the way. Is it made out of a hub cap?" At Gunn's nod, he continued. "Anyway, I know having your weapons would make you feel more secure but you're safe here. I'll see you both in the morning. You'll find me in the big house on top of the hill. Goodnight."

As Warren walked out of the room, Gunn gave Fred a nod and she went to work. Checking every cubby hole and nook and cranny of the room, she didn't find any listening or surveillance equipment anywhere.

"It's clear." she announced as he reached into his pocket.

"We're in." Gunn said as he spoke into his walkie talkie.

The Next Day

Walking out of the apartment, Gunn frowned as he heard birds chirping in the distance and the sun shining. Hearing voices, he and Fred walked out onto the street and saw a lot of people milling about.

"Humph." Gunn said under his breath as he rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Fred asked as she held onto his hand.

"This guy is the king of the hill." he commented as he pointed further ahead of them. Following his line of vision, she saw a huge house or rather a beautiful manor sitting on a hilltop, overlooking the town.

Not saying another word, the two friends walked towards the manor and as they got close they were stopped by Natalie, another sex-bot. After determining that they weren't a threat and were there for a meeting, she escorted them through the house and into Warren's dining room. Gunn scoffed the whole trip upon seeing all of the expensive art and decor in the home. Finally making it into the room, Gunn saw Warren and another small nerdy looking male in the room.

"You made it." Warren started with a smile. "Please have a seat. How was your first night?"

"It was the first time in a long time, I had a decent nights sleep." Gunn answered honestly as he pulled Fred's chair out for her.

"Is all this real?" Fred asked as she sat down. "I mean... it's a nightmare out there and this almost feels like... like heaven."

"You two have been out there for a long time." Warren said as he looked at them both in turn. "So that's an understandable comparison. It took a lot to make this place and while you were out there, me and my people were doing this."

"How did you... how did you get to this place anyway?" Fred asked nervously.

"That's a long story."

"We ain't got nothing but time." Gunn reminded him.

"You're right." Warren replied with an uneasy smile. "Well, I guess I should start this story from the beginning. I was away at college in Dutton and when I heard about this mysterious virus, I went home to check on my parents in Sunnydale. When I got to their house, both of them were sick and refused to go to the hospital so I went out to get them some medicine. When I did, I got attacked by zombies and they chased me into this magic shop. I was seconds away from being eaten alive until this big muscle head named Brock Lesnar saved me. He grabbed a giant war hammer that was on a table and he bashed them to pieces. I begged him to come with me to my parents house so we could leave the city and when I got there... anyway things didn't work out as planned so we gathered a few people, got several big trucks, loaded up everything from the magic box, and some supplies from a grocery store and we hit the road. It was rough at first... being out there on the streets but we survived. Everything changed one day when more people joined our group and said that there was an unfinished large resort area not far from where we made camp. We used the last of our fuel and lost a few people getting here but when we did the place seemed untouched by the dead. Brock killed off any zombies that drifted into the community and since I'm a master of robotics, I made several androids to back him up until we could get those walls up. Over the next few months more and more people came here and we're all surviving together. After awhile people took notice of what I was doing to keep them alive and they made me their leader."

"Wow." Fred said in amazement.

"How many people do you have here?" Gunn asked less then impressed. There was something Warren was keeping from them and he knew it.

"About a hundred and fifty seven." Warren answered. "Which is why I set a strict curfew. Nobody out after dark. Noise and light kept to the bare minimum, armed guards on the wall and patrolling the perimeter to keep the zombies away. Our flock could reach a hundred and fifty nine, if you two decide to stay. Oh where are my manners?" he asked as he turned to the other skinny man in the room. "This is Andrew Wells and he's head over security and making other gadgets like our solar panels that we use to keep this place running."

"Hi." Andrew greeted friendly as he stared deeply into Gunn's eyes. Either not caring or being totally oblivious to the other man's staring, Gunn just kept watching Warren, even as a couple of sex-bots walked in with platters of breakfast food.

"This is a nice place you maintained here." Fred said as she started to fix a plate.

"Thank you." Andrew replied with a smile. "It's still a work in progress but Rome wasn't built in a day." As they all started to dig into their food, Andrew just had to know something. "It's been well over six months? It's so hard to believe you two lasted so long out there."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gunn asked defensively.

"I... I just meant because you're alone." Andrew stammered.

"We had each other." Gunn replied as he reached out and held Fred's hand.

"Two against the word." Warren spoke up as he watched the two of them. "It's long odds."

"We manage." Gunn told them both firmly.

"Oh, and we're impressed." Warren assured him.

"Very." Andrew added. "You remind me of an ebony version of Luke Skywalker. Always on the path."

"Survival in the wild is tough either way you look at it." Warren said sincerely, cutting Andrew off. "You wake up every morning on the ground, wondering if today's the day you're gonna die. Will it be quick and final or slow and… forever? Will someone be kind enough to kill me, or will I come back as one of them?"

"We used to be a part of a bigger group." Gunn suddenly said with haunted eyes. "Before this mess even went down I was a part of a gang that killed vampires and other shit that went bump in the night. Hell I been fighting since I was a kid. But after this happened let's just say that things didn't work out and me and Fred were the last ones standing and we've been on our own ever since."

"I'd like to record a little about both of your lives later on." Andrew said quickly as he brought out a pencil and paper.

"Let them eat." Warren said firmly.

"I'm sorry." Andrew replied sadly. He never got to do what he wanted.

"So what you have here, you expect it to hold?" Gunn asked after a few minutes of eating. "What if a herd comes through?"

"It'll hold."

"That's what our people said." Fred spoke quietly.

"I bet your people didn't have big walls." Warren said as he looked at the both of them and cleared his throat. "Look, the key to survival is what goes on behind these walls. It's about getting back to who we were, who we really are. Everybody here was just waiting for me to save them. And people here have homes, medical care, kids go to school, adults have jobs to do. There's a sense of purpose. We're a community."

"With a lot of guns, ammunition, sex-bots that never sleep, and our big stud muffin Brock Lesnar and his enchanted war hammer." Andrew added.

"Never hurts." Warren replied with a chuckle. "We have a real thing here and I'll die before I let anybody or anything destroy that."

With that said there was another awkward silence as they finished their meals.

"I was thinking that if me and Fred stayed here that we could be useful." Gunn said as he took a sip of water.

"Oh?" Warren asked as he and Andrew gave each other a look. "What can you do for me?"

"I could go out on supply runs and what not." Gunn answered as he looked over at his pretend girlfriend. "And my girl here is probably the smartest woman on the planet right now. I'm sure you could find something useful for her to do."

"I'm sure, I can too." Warren answered with a look of pure lust in his eyes as he looked at Fred, who was oblivious to his gaze. "I'll think it over and get back to you. Now if you'd excuse me, I have presidential stuff to do." he said as he stood to his feet.

"Aight, thanks for the breakfast dog." Gunn said as he gave the man a fist bump. "We'll see each other out." and with that, he and Fred walked out of the house.

"So..." Warren started as he turned to Andrew. "What do you think?"

"They're a breath of fresh air." Andrew answered with a smile. "Especially that guy... I mean the girl."

"I like her too." Warren replied with a crooked smile. "We'll try them out... and see if they can really be useful. If not we'll let them go."

"Really?" Andrew asked with wide eyes. "You'd... you'd really let them leave?" usually he'd have the sex-bots escort people beyond the walls, kill them, and take their stuff if they weren't useful.

Not answering the question, Warren just gave him a sick smile.

* * *

"So what do you think?" Gunn whispered to Fred as she intertwined her arms in his as he led her away from Warren's house. Taking a deep breath, she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I think this would be a nice place for us... I mean for you and Buffy to settle down." Fred covered for her.

"I meant about Warren." Gunn replied with a raised eyebrow.

"He seems like a nice guy." Fred answered. "I think Jesse was wrong."

"I think Jesse was right." Gunn replied as he looked around to make sure no one was listening. "All I picked up from that guy was straight bullshit."

"So what are we gonna do?" she asked. "I was hoping we could stay here for awhile to get ourselves together enough to report back to the others."

"My shit never stopped being together." Gunn said as he put his hand on the small of her back. "We'll stay here a little longer and play this game to the end. I'll give this guy the benefit of the doubt for you and we'll just get into contact with Buffy later."

Please Review...


	16. Chapter 15 Welcome To The Team

A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed and please keep doing so. I also wanted to say thanks to my newest reviewers Guest and Dawn is Summer. To Guest even though you're a Buffy/ Angel shipper, I'm glad you're still enjoying this story anyway and it does my heart good to know that my writing is decent enough that you're enjoying this new ship and the flow of the story. I'm sorry that I don't have more love scenes involving the two but I'm not a romance novelist. What was your favorite chapter so far?

To Dawn is Summer and Twilight Warrior, things are going to get crazy pretty soon and I hope you like what I came up with when the time comes and to Noah, I wanted to be as realistic as possible with Warren's backstory so thanks for the praise. I also have two surprise guests in this chapter. Now enough of me babbling and on with the story, please enjoy and review.

Chapter 15

Welcome To The Team

Weapons Checkout Room

Gunn's fingers tightly wrapped around his axe as Dana the sex-bot handed it to him. It was weird saying it but for the first time in his life, he felt oddly safe right now, in the gates of Warrenville, even if he was here for just a few days. He still didn't trust Warren but he'd be lying if he said the town didn't feel safe and was peaceful. All his life he felt that he was at war with demons and himself, but now...

"Mr. Charles Gunn are you ready for our away mission?" Dana asked as she grabbed a sword and a gun.

"Just call me Gunn." he replied darkly. "And yeah, I'm ready."

* * *

Preferring to drive in his own truck instead of the vehicle Warren was going to furnish; Gunn, Dana, and another android named Stephanie drove past a series of houses far from Warrenville. According to Dana, most of the houses that were close to them were already looted for supplies, but Warren wanted everything of value from every house they were able to reach.

Following the instructions he was given, Gunn parked his truck several yards from a broken down house in the distance. As he and the others started to approach it, they heard God awful rock music coming from it.

"We're in the middle of an apocalypse." Gunn whispered with a shake of his head. "Those damn fools are gonna get themselves killed playing that shit."

"Stay here." Dana ordered of Gunn as she put her hand on his chest, making the black man look up at her in anger. Nodding towards Stephanie, the other android stealthily ran towards the house.

"What the hell is..."

"We are always ordered to survey a house before entering it." Dana explained cutting him off. "That is rule one of my beautiful Warren's strategy of home scavenging." as she explained that rule, just as fast as she had ran away, Stephanie returned to them. "Report."

"The house is infested with demons." Stephanie said as she cocked her head to the side. "Five of them are classified as Wraith-ers and one of them is an unknown hostile."

As she made that report, Dana started to growl like a dog. Seeing that Gunn was giving her a sideways glance, she hurried to explain. "Warren has issued a no demons policy. All demons must be exterminated on sight."

"I ain't got a problem with that." Gunn replied with a raised eyebrow as he stuck the blade of his axe into the ground and took the crossbow out of Stephanie's hands. "Let's go."

* * *

The Wraith-er band continued playing their horrible beyond industrial trash funk music, as a couple of Wraith-er punk girls danced wildly in front of their makeshift stage.

As the lead singer, sang lyrics that would make anyone vomit, a trashcan suddenly shattered one of the windows beside the stage, making them stop playing. As the flecks of light shone through, Gunn stepped into the room carrying a crossbow followed by Stephanie, and Dana, the latter of whom cocked the hammer back on the gun she was holding.

""Dude!" the singer yelled out in surprise. "You're paying for that window."

""No, I'm not." Gunn shot back. "And in case you haven't noticed were in the middle of a fucking apocalypse."

"Whoa, you're right." the singer realized, possibly coming down from his high of drugs. With a grin he then looked at Stephanie. "Hey, baby! Hey, don't worry about the window, man."

"I know that I don't have to worry about that fucking window." Gunn retorted. "Because we're here to kill you."

"Ah, dude, they wanna kill us." the drummer said as he looked to the others, just as high as his friends were.

"Okay." the singer said as he let go of the microphone. "But they're still paying for the window."

"I got first ride on the hottie." the drummer replied with a smile of his own.

With that the drummer leapt off the stage, crashing right into Gunn's fist. The hit sent the drummer, stumbling back against the stage as the groupies let out a scream. Stepping into action Stephanie ran forward and quickly snapped the necks of both demonic girls, instantly killing them.

With a frown, Gunn raised his crossbow as the three Wraith-ers squared off against them, before they suddenly came to a dead halt.

"Oh, come on!" the black man yelled out. "Take it like a demon."

A growl then sounded and Gunn turned his head to see that Dana was snarling at them again like a dog. Gathering all the power that was available in her power cells, Dana leapt past Gunn and onto the stage, tackling all three demons at once, before starting to lay into them like there was no tomorrow.

Staring in awe at that, Gunn kicked the occasional Wraith-er as it came his way, but Dana was hogging all the action, tossing the demons around like rag dolls.

Landing a shot, Gunn fired a bolt into one of the Wraith-ers' throat with an arrow before glancing over at Stephanie who was standing back in the shadows of the entrance.

All fell quiet as Dana tossed the last demon aside. With a smile she stood on the cleared stage, still holding one of the demon's torn off arms."That was fun."

"Yeah." Gunn replied with a roll of his eyes. "That was a laugh out loud riot."

Doing a flip off of the stage and smiling at her work, Dana helped Gunn and Stephanie start to gather the canned food and equipment they found in the room. As they headed out to place it in his truck, Gunn suddenly had a thought. "Wait, I thought you said there were six demons?"

As he asked that question, they all heard a loud thumping sound coming from the other room. Putting down the bag of food, he quietly, yet swiftly walked the length of the room and kicked the door open. The dust settling, Gunn saw a demon cowering on the floor. It had large, floppy ears, loose clay like skin, red eyes and strangely had a benevolent disposition, despite being a demon.

"My name is Clem!" the demon yelled out as he started to shake. "My species is peaceful. Please... please don't kill me."

As the demon started to babble on and on about how he came into the company of the Wraith-ers, for a moment Gunn could look into it's soul. Which was strange in and of itself, because the only demons he had ever met that he believed had a soul was Angel and Lorne. But here he was looking at another demon, truly looking at him and seeing a white light shining through him. He knew that this... Clem was telling him the truth about being peaceful but he could also feel the demons fear coming off of it in waves. It seemed that Jonathan's spell had worked after all.

"Relax, I'm not..."

"Demon." Dana said with a wicked smile as she stalked into the room, carrying Gunn's axe. "You're going to be exterminated too."

"Nooo... please..." Clem begged.

"You girls check out the rest of the house." Gunn said as he grabbed his axe out of the lead androids hands. "I'll take care of this. I don't want demon blood getting on your pretty dresses."

"Oh, that's nice of you." Dana said happily as she and Stephanie bounded out of the room and started to gather things that they might need.

As the door closed behind them, Gunn swallowed hard before looking back at the demon that stared back at him with true fear in it's eyes. "I'm sorry." Gunn said as he raised his axe over his head and came down as hard as he could with it, Clem's screams echoing off of the walls.

Walking out of the room, bits of red dripping off of his axe, Gunn shuffled towards the two robotic droids. "Let's go."

Not fully following his orders, Dana walked past him and glanced into the room and saw Clem laying face first in a puddle of red. Satisfied, she bent down, grabbed the equipment that she had before and walked out of the house with Stephanie. Dropping a few cans of food on the floor, Gunn quickly exited the house.

* * *

Waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, but was more accurately about fifteen minutes, Clem stood to his feet and took off his paint soaked shirt. Looking towards the corner, at the paint can that that human Gunn had hacked and slashed to save his life, he stumbled across the room.

He'd never know why Gunn decided to save him, perhaps he truly heard his plea or was so tired of so much death, he'd never know. Opening the door to the next room, he saw all of the Wraith-ers on the floor in a pile of blood and body parts and it made his stomachs turn. They weren't as bad of guys as people thought, well at least he'd never seen them kill anybody.

As he was about to turn and leave, Clem saw a few cans of food on the floor, that he could only assume the human had left for him. Gathering them up in in a little knapsack that he had found, he took one last look around and was about to leave until he remembered his friend. Going back into his room, he opened the door to his closet and saw the blond android sitting in a chair, with her eyes closed recharging from a small generator that he had scavenged from a mechanics shop.

She had traveled alone from Warrenville, to hunt the creatures that went bump in the night but somehow her memory circuits had gotten scrambled and he had found her sitting alone on the verge of shutting down a few weeks ago. All she had remembered was that Warren had created her, that she was the Slayer, that she had a Watcher named guy-els, that she had a little sister named Dawn and that she was created to be in love with Spike.

Letting her know that he knew Spike and that they used to be friends, she followed him back to the Wraith -ers home. The guys had immediately wanted to rape her but he had lied and said that she was his girlfriend and that he wouldn't share her with anybody. After taking her to his room and examining her, he found that she needed to be recharged. It took awhile to keep her from killing the other demons but they had eventually become peaceful towards one another. Not wanting to go back to Warrenville, the two had become fast friends and she even guarded their home from zombies.

Unplugging the cable cord that was connected to her arm, he watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Clem, I'm not fully recharged." Buffy-bot said as she stood to her feet.

"I know, but we have to go."

"Why?" she asked in a childlike manner with a frown.

"The ummm... guys kicked us out." Clem lied. "Besides, I think we'll do better out on our own."

"Do you think we'll find Spike?" Buffy-bot asked as excitement crept up into her voice.

"Yeah... yeah, we just might." Clem said sadly as he stroked some of her long hair, out of her face. He watched as her face beamed with joy and it gave him a sense of hope. "Now grab your battery charger and a few weapons and let's go. And Buffy, when we walk out of here keep your eyes closed."

"Okay Clem." Buffy-bot replied with another smile as she gathered their stuff and closed her eyes. "Clem... we're friends."

"Yeah." Clem replied with a dry chuckle. "I'm your friend to the end. Now let's get out of here."

Warren's Secret Room

"What did you think?" Andrew asked of Warren. They had just seen the live footage that was being filmed through Dana's eyes of Gunn's apparent killing of the demons, especially the one that he insisted on being alone with to kill.

"We saw the blood." Warren commented after a moment. As far as he was concerned Gunn had proven his worth. "He's one of us."

Later That Day

Warren's Home

"I want to offer you a job." Warren said immediately as Gunn walked into the living room. "I can't really trust that my androids won't break down on the field. Hell I lost one a couple of months ago and I was never able to retrieve her body. What I need is someone whose strong and smart to be a field leader."

"I accept." Gunn replied with a nod of his head. "Now let's talk about pay and benefits."

With a smile and a chuckle Warren stood to his feet and placed a hand on Gunn's shoulder, leading him out of the room. "The luxury houses a couple of blocks from here are done being renovated. You and your girl can pick one and move in. Tell her I'll try to find a job for her later on."

"Hmmm, that sounds cool." Gunn said with a nod of his head. "Now about that pay."

With another chuckle, Warren led him to the door. "It's four o'clock right now Gunn." the leader of Warrenville declared as he reached over and adjusted Gunn's watch for him. "At eight thirty we're going to have a town meeting in the square. As the new supply run leader, I want you and Fred to be there."

"Aight. I'll catch you later."

Later That Day

"It seems like we're getting deeper and deeper into this place." Fred whispered to Gunn as she put her head on his shoulder and walked with him towards the center of town. Her mind was still reeling with the confession that Jonathan's spell on him worked. "Are you sure you don't wanna just admit that this place is alright?"

As she asked that question, they heard Warren's voice as he spoke loudly over the clamor of people. Looking further ahead of himself, he saw Warren standing on a tall podium with the whole town surrounding him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I called you all here tonight to let you know of an outside threat." Warren started as he looked around at his townspeople. "But it's not a threat of the dead or demons, but of people. As if this virus wasn't enough there are desperate people out there that are trying to take what we have. Take what we spilled blood for. But I'm here to say no. No one is going to take anything from us as I've found the cure for the human condition." as he said that a big muscle bound jock type, stepped up on the podium next to him. "He is the beast incarnate and the conqueror of conquerors... Brock Lesnar. I assure all you people in attendance that no one will bother us again with him on our side. As a matter of fact, I pledge allegiance to the greatness of the Conqueror who stands before me, and to his dominance, for which I stand. We will be one nation, under Warren with liberty for us and punishment for all those who stand against us."

As he kept talking, some flyers were being handed out through the crowd. Seeing it, Gunn snatched one. "Fred, this place ain't alright." he whispered. Looking over his shoulder Fred saw that it was a wanted dead poster that had Jesse, Kendra, Riley, and Buffy's face on it. With a gulp, Fred looked back up to Warren and silently wondered what they had truly gotten themselves into.

Please review...


	17. Chapter 16 Radio Silence

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys. As of now the part with Clem and Buffy-bot was just a one shot.

Chapter 16

Radio Silence

After a night of restless slumber, Gunn rolled off his shared bed and looked at his companion Fred. She was sound asleep as if she didn't have a care in the world. Patting her on the head, she suddenly smiled in her sleep, mumbled and then rolled over in bed.

Taking a shower and getting dressed, all his thoughts could go only to Buffy. After Warren's announcement that they were going to start a war with his and Jesse's group, he had tried to contact his girl several times with his walkie talkie but all he got back was static. According to Fred a signal jammer was activated. He didn't know if Warren had somehow figured out that someone was sending out transmissions but he didn't use the walkie again out of fear of being found out. That also meant that Buffy and the others were alone in what he knew was going to be a bloody battle. At least until he could figure out a way to get himself and Fred out of this town. He hadn't personally seen Brock in battle, but if all the skull and bones he saw outside that surrounded the walls was any indication of his power, Buffy would need as much help as possible.

"Good morning." Fred said with a yawn as she sat up in bed. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is, we gotta find a way to get out of here." he answered. "You have a meeting with Warren today don't you?" at her nod, he continued. "Good. Find out what he wants and hopefully by the time you come back, I'll have thought of a way to get us out of here."

After taking a shower, changing her clothes and getting something to eat, Fred walked out of the door and headed towards Warren's house.

Warren's House

Living Room

"I'm sick of this waiting bullshit!" Brock shouted as he began to pace. His hulking frame easily drawfed Warren's, of whom sat calm and silently watched him.

"Easy, Brock." Warren said with an small smile. "We're going to do this tomorrow."

"Why!?" he exploded. "You sit there and you tell me that there's a couple of girls out there that are stronger then me. There's no way I can believe that. I need to go out there and destroy them now."

"And, I'm telling you no." Warren countered. "Our best plan of action is to play this smart. I can't have you rampaging out there and risk you destroying their community. We need to do this the easy way and eliminate these targets..."

"Am... am, I interrupting something?" Fred asked, as she walked into the room.

"No... no, Brock was just leaving." Warren said nervously as the behemoth brushed past Fred and walked out of the room. "Please have a seat."

"You... you said you had a job for me?" the beautiful petite woman asked.

"Yeah, I do." Warren replied as he pulled out a folder. "I was looking at the worksheets I had you fill out and did you know you have a one hundred and ninety IQ? It's the second highest here."

"Really?" Fred asked with a smile, even though she was shocked and strangely embarrassed. "Wait who... whose the first?"

"I am?" Warren replied with a smile. "You care to go for a walk?"

"Sure." Fred replied as she stood to her feet. Walking in stride, he suddenly threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Okay, here's the thing. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about expansion."

"You mean like clearing out more houses around here and putting walls around it?"

"Yeah... well... something like that." Warren said as the gears in his mind started to turn. "I..."

"You've never had any bit of sex, have you?" they heard Gunn's voice say. Looking up they saw him in the middle of talking to Andrew.

"Sex? Him?" Warren asked as he began to chuckle. "I don't think he'd know how too."

"Oh, ha ha ha Warren." Andrew mock laughed.

"I'm just teasing you man." Warren replied as he slapped Andrew lightly on the shoulder. "I remember the first time I made love. God it was awful... I just laid there."

As they all began to chuckle, Gunn suddenly looked over at his girl. "Hey, how's it going?"

"After we finish our talk she'll be just fine." Warren interrupted as he threw his arm back across Fred's shoulder. "We'll see you two later." and with that, the two walked off.

Even though Fred wasn't his girlfriend Gunn still didn't like the feeling of being punked out. Feeling someone looking at him, he saw that it was Andrew. "What?"

"There's... there's something that you need to know about Warren and how he rules this place."

* * *

"All right, like I was saying." Warren started again as they walked back to his house. "I plan on expanding the ideas of this place to other locations and I need someone smart to help me run them. You'd be kinda like a Governess."

"Wow, that's... wow." Fred stammered. "I... I'm honored by that. Do you have a location in mind?"

"In fact, I do." he said as he took a photograph out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

She gasped as she saw that it was the same housing community that Buffy and her friends were. Finding her voice, she looked up at the man that made her an offer of a lifetime and cleared her throat. "Are ummm... are people currently living there?"

"I sent a couple of spy drones to their location about two days ago." Warren said, answering the question of how he had gotten pictures of Buffy and the others. "And yes there are people living there. It's the people I told you about that are a threat to our society."

"So they've attacked this place before?"

"Look Fred, this is the thing. These people are a threat because I say they are." he answered, knowing full well that Buffy and the others never attacked them. "There are a little more then a dozen people living there but I only want to weed the bad ones out. Any of the others that want to come here or live there under your rule is fine. According to my spy drones that place has medical supplies and food that could keep us going for God knows how long."

"Will you... will you give me time to think about your offer?" Fred asked. Gunn was right they really did have to get the hell out of here.

"Yeah of course." Warren replied as he got super close to her. "I also want you to consider something else."

"Warren... what are you doing?" Fred asked as she started to nervously back away from him. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute.

"Hopefully you in the next couple of minutes." Warren answered as he continued to walk towards her. "Look, we need to talk about the future. We're not going to live forever but if we had children, who are going to be geniuses by the way, they could carry on our legacy."

He's gone crazy. Fred thought to herself as she noticed little small jerks to his movements. "But, I'm dating Gunn."

"Just what the hell can he offer you, that I can't?" Warren asked angrily. "I'm the fucking president. This town is named after me for fucks sake."

Seeing that she was backed up against a wall with nowhere to go and with all likelihood that she would be raped, Fred looked for a way out. Eyeing a vase, she picked it up and slammed it across his head.

"You stupid bitch!" Warren roared in pain and anger as he back handed her, sending her tiny frame sailing over a table, breaking glass. "All of you bitches are the same! You tease and you tease!"

Overwhelmed with anger at the thought of the many times in life where he was rejected in his life, and giving in to his true psychotic nature, Warren then attacked Fred in a rage. As the two grappled, he got on top of her and started to choke her. Starting to see spots and her vision fading, Fred managed to grab a shard of broken glass and stabbed him in the eye.

Upon seeing him fall to the floor with a cry and blood gushing out of where his eye should have been, Fred stood to her feet and without looking back, she ran for her life.

Fred and Gunn's House

"Fred!" Gunn shouted as he burst through the front door and looked around for her. After what Andrew had told him, they had to leave immediately. "Fred!"

"Charles!" she called for him out of breath as she ran into the house herself.

"Fred are you okay?" Gunn asked as he grabbed her by the shoulders.

"It... it was horrible." Fred replied with a cry. "Warren... he ... he tried to force himself on me." she confessed. "I had to... I had..."

"Did you kill him?" Gunn asked. Not getting an answer from his hysterical Fred he shook her roughly. "Did you kill him!"

"I...I don't know." Fred cried out.

"We gotta get the hell out of here anyway." the black man said as he let her go. "Andrew told me all those skulls around the compound ain't from people who were a threat to them. Some of them are from people that wanted to leave because he showed them creulty. He just had them killed in cold blood so he could have their stuff. We gotta leave our shit here, now come on and let's go."

Seeing that no one was alerted yet of what had happened, Gunn used his new position to trick the sex-bots guarding the gate into letting he and Fred drive out of the city in his truck.

Warrenville

Medical Ward

"How is he doing, Dr. Sandra?" Andrew asked as he glanced at his medically sedated friend that was laying on a surgical bed. The doctor had the lighting low, so he was in and out of shadows.

"I couldn't save his eye." Dr. Sandra said bluntly. "He was going into shock so, I had to sedate him."

"What the hell happened to him Doc?" Brock asked as he walked into the room. "Did that Buffy bitch come here and..."

"No." Dr. Sandra cut him off. "At least I don't think so. When those androids brought him in, he kept mumbling something about that girl Winifred Burkle."

"Fred?" Andrew asked with wide eyes. There's no way she could have done something like this. Unless... "You don't think that she was a part of Jesse and the Slayer's team do you?" he asked of no one in particular.

"Of course... she was you idiot." Warren slurred out as he finally came too. "It all makes sense now. Everything finally makes sense."

"Warren maybe you should..."

"Please wait outside doctor." Warren cut her off. His tone didn't leave room for argument.

"Yes sir." Dr. Sandra replied as she let go of her pride and walked out of the room.

To everyone's surprise Warren started to chuckle, but as he spoke he seemed to be in a state of delirium. "Brock you were right. You were so... so right."

"What do you want to do now boss?" Brock asked as he turned to look at the other man.

"I want you to do what you do best Brock." Warren replied as he leaned into what little light the room provided so the other two men could see his face. He had his right eye heavily bandaged but still they could see that blood was starting to seep through it. "Tomorrow morning I want you to destroy them all, except for Fred. You bring her to me. Other then that you have full authority in this battle. Take as many vampires and androids as you need. And Andrew, I want to finally use that agony booth you and I invented."

"Come on." Brock said as he grabbed Andrew, who yelped, by the shoulder and carried him out of the room. With a dangerous sickly smile on his face, Warren sat back into the darkness.

Warren's Secret Room

"Undue the signal jammer." Brock demanded as he roughly pushed Andrew down in a chair.

"What?" the nerd asked, even as he took out his laptop.

"Is what a new language?" Brock asked in irritation. "Undue the fucking signal jammer!"

"But Warren said..."

"Warren said that I have full authority." the powerful jock reminded him with a smug smile. "Now do what you're told." Not arguing with him any further Andrew did what was asked of him. Finishing his job, he nodded his head to the much more powerful man who picked up a walkie talkie that broadcasted on all nearby channels. "Wakey, wakey slayer, I know you can hear me." he started. "My name is Brock Lesnar and I'm soon to be the conqueror of what's left of this planet. I wanted to tell you and your little buddies a short story. I was put on this earth to seek, destroy, and to kill. If there's one message I have for you and your group it's this. You can think all you want that you can beat me but the thing is when we fight I'm going to kick your ass. It'll be unlike any other ass kicking you've ever received. This isn't a fairy tale. There's no feel good moment. I am gonna fuck you up Buffy Summers. And for what Winifred Burkle did to Warren, I'm going to get you too. In short, I'm coming...the end."

Jesse and Kendra's House

Living Room

Buffy's hand trembled a little as she heard those words come out of Brock's mouth over the radio. She'd never met the man but after what Gunn and Fred described of all of the demon and human skulls that surrounded the gates of Warrenville she had a right to be a little nervous.

Feeling someones gaze upon her, she turned and saw all of her friends and family looking to her on what to do next. Chancing a glance at Fred who was laying on the sofa crying, with Gunn softly patting her back, she remembered who she was and what she was fighting for. It was to protect the innocent.

Picking up a walkie talkie of her own, she swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, and pushed the send button. "Attention Brock this is Buffy Summers and I have a story of my own." she started. "This world is filled with nothing but darkness now and the sun itself is too afraid to show itself. But let me tell you something. One day soon the sun will come out and turn the black into grey and I'm going to smile. I won't smile out of happiness, but because I know... that one day, I won't have to do this anymore. One day, I can stop fighting. Because one day... I will win. One day, there will be no pain, no loss, no zombies, because of me and my friends. It's going to be because we fight people like you. One day, I will win. So in other words... bring it."

"That was... that was powerful." Riley said as he walked over to Buffy, moved by her words as she put away the walkie talkie. "Do you have a plan of action?"

"Yeah." Buffy replied as she wiped a tear from her own eye. "I'm tired of always being on defense. I think we need to be on the offense for once. Everybody get ready, we're going to war."

Please review... The next chapter will be Buffy vs Brock ad it's going to be brutal.


	18. Chapter 17 The Calm Before

Chapter 17

The Calm Before

Buffy pulled Kendra into a huge bear hug as she closed her eyes and started to whisper into her hair.

"I... I couldn't hear what you said over the cracking of me ribs." Kendra said with a smile as Buffy let her go and apologized.

"I said... I said leaving you behind all those years ago to fight Angel was one of the biggest regrets of my life." Buffy admitted as a huge weight seemed to have fallen off of her shoulders. "I just wanted to say that I'm..."

"You don't have to apologize, Buffy." Kendra cut her off with a small smile. "Dying to protect de innocent is de Slayer's duty."

"And both of us have died enough times huh?" Buffy asked as they both chuckled. "Still, I always wanted you to know that I was sorry and I wanted you to keep this." she said handing her the Slayer's scythe.

"Dis isn't for me to wield." Kendra replied as she handed her the deadly weapon back. "At least not tonight. Don't worry Buffy, if anyting goes wrong, I won't be alone. I have back up this time."

"Keep this place together until, I get back." Buffy replied as she gave the mocha skinned beauty another hug and walked out of the living room and into the the kitchen, where her team and Dawn were waiting for her. "Dawn..."

"I know... I know, go to bed." Dawn cut her off. "I just wanted to see you before..."

"That wasn't what I was going to say." Buffy replied, cutting her off in turn. "Go upstairs and get dressed."

"You want me to come with you?" Dawn asked as her eyes lit up.

"Wipe that smile off of your face because this is serious." Buffy warned firmly. "From here on out, I'm not going to treat you like a kid anymore. I need someone with you skills by my side but you're going to keep quiet and follow my orders to the t. You got it?"

"Yes ma'am." the youngest Summers said with raised eyebrows.

"Good, now go upstairs, get dressed in all black and meet us back down here." Buffy ordered as Dawn scampered off.

"Buffy do you think bringing Dawn is the best..." Riley stopped talking as the Slayer gave him a death glare. "Never mind."

Looking at the rest of her team, which consisted of Gunn, Gwen, Riley, and Jesse, Buffy cleared her throat before she spoke to them. "I know everybody is tired but we have to make this first strike. I'm not going to let people come in here and hurt our family any longer. Kendra, Samantha, and Capt. Rhodes said that they would watch this place while we're gone. Let's just make sure we're back sooner rather then later."

"What are we going to do when we get there?" Jesse asked as the group looked to him. "Warren is a guy, not a demon. We can't just go there and kill him right?"

Not answering his question, Buffy turned from him and headed towards the door, just as Dawn came down the stairs. "Let's move."

Outside the Walls of Warrenville

An Hour and a Half Later

The gang had ditched their car about a mile back, so they could walk to the compound and not fear being detected. But as they finally made it to the wall, they didn't have the slightest clue on how to actually get in. But that's where Gwen came in.

* * *

Walking away from the group, Gwen and Dawn patrolled the wall for about fifteen minutes to observe the robots that guarded it. There seemed to be less androids then Gunn, Fred, and Jesse had told them about, but that wasn't a concern. Figuring what few androids there were would never take a break anyway, Gwen took out a map of the area Fred told her about and went to the west wall. Sending a small electrical arc into the air, she zapped both of the androids that guarded the wall and watched as they tumbled over. Throwing a grappling hook up and over the wall, both she and Dawn were on the move.

As they got over the wall, Gwen left Dawn in the lookout tower before she hit the ground, pulling on the rope to take it down, as she ran to the building that she needed to be in. Throwing the hook again, she climbed up to the roof and walked over to the wiring box labeled "Access Control Systems." Opening it, she selected the exact wire necessary, and severed it with a special tool. Taking a quick look around, she removed a glove and touched the wire with her bare hands to short it out. With phase two complete she closed the box's door, and went to the roof access door to enter the building. Smiling she saw that it had a key-card entry slot. Touching it with her hand, she waited until the light turned green and watched as the door unlocked. Running until she got to a back panel, she started to flip switch after switch until the power to the compound started to fade.

* * *

"Alright, let's move." Riley ordered as he saw the side gate start to creak open.

As they hurried through the gate, Gunn showed them where Warren lived. Everyone's movements were quick and sure as they covered each other and headed towards the house on the hill. The closer and closer they got to it, their hearts seemed to pound harder and harder. Buffy silently wondered if this was how Riley felt when he went out on missions. Seemingly as soon as she had that thought a spotlight, an actual spotlight, shone down on them.

Covering their eyes from the light, they stopped in their tracks and looked around. As the unrelenting light, beamed down on them, a hulking figure suddenly stepped forward, carrying a large war hammer.

"Buffy Summers?" Brock asked as he locked eyes with the Slayer. "I've been expecting you." with a snap of his fingers, the group was suddenly surrounded by a couple of androids and a few mindless vampires that Warren had programmed the girls not to attack.

"Good." Buffy replied to the Conqueror as she stepped forward. "Since you were expecting me it'll take the sting out of me putting my fashionable size six and a half combat boot up your ass."

"Funny." Brock replied as his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "Get them." as he said that, the vampires and androids charged forward.

Knowing that she could handle things, Gunn still wanted to give his girlfriend a fighting chance. Shooting a bolt from his crossbow at Brock, he could only watch in horror as the bigger man deflected it with his hand, as if the deadly projectile was a fly.

Giving his girlfriend a look that seemed to say good luck, Gunn joined in the fray of helping the others. As Buffy walked towards Brock, she felt the Scythe on her back start to vibrate and sizzle from unseen power.

"You're a lot smaller then I thought you'd be." Brock greeted as Buffy got close to him.

"And you're the exact demon sized shape I thought you'd be." Buffy quipped as they started to circle each other.

"I ain't a demon." Brock replied as he slapped at his chest. "There ain't nothing but pure Kansas farm boy here."

Damn he's not a demon. Buffy thought to herself. I can't kill him so I better make this quick.

Running forward, Buffy punched him in the face. Taking the shot in stride he reached out and grabbed her by the throat. Putting a little more Slayer strength into her punch, she hit him in the face again, wrestling free of his grip. Slightly wheezing she punched him everywhere she could think of, but to no avail. With a smile he punched her once, full strength, sending her tumbling backward and crashing into the side of a wall.

There's no way this guy is human. That punch would've put down a bull. She thought from the ground. "Okay." Buffy groaned as she stood to her feet. "No more miss nice Slayer."

Seeing that she was unsheathing her scythe, Brock smiled as he dropped his arm from his shoulder where his war hammer was resting. Taking a look at it, Buffy knew exactly what it was. It was Olaf the Troll God's war hammer. Glancing down at her scythe she saw that it started to lightly glow with a red aura just as the war hammer glowed with a white one.

Not knowing or caring what it meant, Buffy ran forward with full speed, her scythe over her a deadly arc. Coming down with the weapon, Brock blocked it with his hammer.

"So you're done playing with me huh?" Brock asked as sparks started to fly from he and his opponents respective weapons.

"Yeah, something like that." Buffy ground out as she knee'd him in the stomach to get some distance.

"Hmm, it makes me wonder how your little friends are doing back home." Brock replied as Buffy gave him a look.

"What do you mean?" the Slayer asked, only for the Conqueror to give her a smile. Thinking about what he had said, it seemed that just like with Angelus some years ago, she had been duped into leaving her friends behind again.

Jesse and Kendra's House

Kitchen

Samantha Finn yawned as she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a bowl of cereal. As she went to the fridge, she remembered that they didn't have any milk.

"I can't believe you're eating at a time like this." a voice said, behind her, making her jump. Turning she saw that it was Captain Henry Rhodes. He was a tall, bald, muscular black man that reminded her of that movie star Ving Rhames. He wasn't a part of their unit but he was in the army some years ago. "I'm sorry if I startled you."

"It's okay." Sam replied as her heartbeat started to calm down. "The way, I figure it if I die tonight at least it won't be on an empty stomach." Sam said as both of them chuckled.

Suddenly the lights cut off, bathing the home in darkness. Snapping up their weapons, they were ready for anything.

"You hear that?" Sam asked as the house went deadly silent. After a few seconds he could hear what she heard. It sounded like footsteps on the roof. Wanting to shed some light in the room, Sam reached over and cut on a huge flashlight. As it shone on the kitchen entrance Henry and miss Finn collectively jumped as they saw that it was only Kendra. Kendra with someone behind her wielding a huge ax. "Get down!"

As Kendra hit the floor, Henry started to fire two rounds into the android that was behind her, with his shotgun. Scrambling to her feet, Kendra picked up the ax that the android had. "Do you tink she was alone?" Kendra asked as they all started to hear more foot steps. "I guess not."

When those words came out of her mouth four black clothed wearing androids rushed into the room. Being the leader of the android elimination SWAT team, Dana fired a shot at Sam aimed at her head and even she was surprised as it stopped in mid-air literally an inch from going into the woman's eye and splattering her brains on the wall.

Hearing someone speaking, the androids and humans alike looked over and saw Amy standing on the opposite end of the room with her hand outstretched.

"Wow, that's cool." Dana said with a smile.

Her eyes suddenly going dark, Amy sent the bullet backwards where it exploded through Dana's head making her collapse to the floor into a pile of useless junk. Before the other androids could react, Amy clapped her hands together once, as if in prayer, and sent out a large gust of wind that pushed them out of the kitchen door. Following them out the door, her hand still outstretched, Amy made them hover in mid-air. With her left hand she sent out a huge fireball that sent the droids up in flames.

Her eyes turning back to normal, Amy walked back towards the house, as the droids fell to the ground in a fiery heap. "I'll be in my room sleeping if you need me." she said over her shoulder as the others stared at her retreating form.

It was Henry however that recovered first. "Hmm... mama's got a brand new bag." he muttered as he closed the door. As everyone gathered at the house to see what was going on, Henry noticed that someone was missing. "Hey where's Fred?"

* * *

Brock started to get the upper hand in the fight with Buffy, who was bleeding now and moving slower then before. With a smile on his lips, he kicked her to the ground, then stepped on her as she tried to get up. Dropping his hammer, he grabbed her and picked her up to face him.

"I never thought you'd be this easy." Brock said with a smile. "Any famous last words?" As a last act of defiance she spat blood in his face, making him angry. With a growl of outrage, he lifted her over his head and body-slammed her onto the ground. "Suplex city bitch!"

Having enough of playing games, he picked up his war hammer and walked towards her. Seeing that she was trying to crawl over to where her scythe was, he kicked her across the parking lot. As she laid there whimpering in pain, Brock stood over her with his hammer held up high. He had now conquered the Slayer. Coming down with the hammer over and over again, he put a crack in the Slayer's scythe. Picking it up, he used all the strength that he had in his body but he managed to snap the scythe in half, before throwing it to the ground and releasing untold magicks into the air.

His job done, he returned to the Slayer. Before he could bring down the hammer, he was shot in the chest with a powerful blast of electricity, that took him off of his feet. Sitting up, he saw Gwen cutting a path through what was left of the vampires. He was impressed as she put her hands on either side of the vamps head, twisted it's neck and sent out an electrical current that made the demon catch on fire and turn into ashes. Watching as the Slayer's group, picked up Buffy and started to retreat, Brock felt someone watching him. Turning, he saw Warren watching him through a window. Seeing something in his one eye, let him know that the boss wanted him to let Buffy and her gang go. The Slayer had learned her lesson.

A/N Let me know what you guys thought of this chapter guys.


	19. Chapter 18 Breathe

Chapter 18

Breathe

With a yawn, Buffy felt fully refreshed as she woke up and looked around her room. Only it wasn't her room. At least not the room she was supposed to be in. It looked like her old room from when she lived in L.A. as a teenager. Taking another look around the room confirmed it, as she saw her pink Mr. Gordo stuffed pig on her vanity.

Getting out of bed and seeing that she had on some pink pajamas, she looked outside and with wide eyes saw kids playing out on the street. Shocked, she suddenly heard someone laughing. It wasn't just any laugh. Heart nearly beating out of her chest, she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Eye's welling up with tears, Buffy's heart suddenly skipped a beat. The sight of her parents, together, her innocence lost. But then she shook her head. She knew that there was something wrong. It just couldn't be real.

As Buffy tried to take it in, she just shook her head at the thought and sight of her mom being alive. Seeing her come into the room, Joyce stared at her daughter in awe as a tear rolled out of Buffy's eye. From bliss, heartbreak, fear, everything seemed to blink into existance in Buffy's mind and heart in a matter of seconds.

Buffy then blinked, trying to make how she was feeling stop. Still too much in shock to accept her. But then, it seemed so real. It was amazing. And the mere possibility of having her mom next to her again was more then she could seem to take in.

"Honey are you okay?" Hank asked, as he looked up from the morning paper.

When her father spoke, he broke the spell and Buffy started to look around nervously. How could her mom be alive? Where were the zombies, her friends, where the hell was Dawn?

"Baby are you okay?" Joyce suddenly asked as she reached out and touched her daughter's forehead to check for a fever. Buffy melted at her simple words. Finding a solace she could've only dreamed of. Heart pounding again, she reached out to touch Joyce's face and to her surprise, she was real. Her body so warm. "Maybe you should sit down." Joyce suggested.

Doing as she was told, Buffy sat down at the table, across from her father. As her dad stared at her, Joyce handed Buffy a glass of water. As Buffy took a sip, she noticed that both of her parents were staring at her.

"What's wrong, honey?" Hank suddenly asked after a few moments. "You act like you've seen a ghost. Did you have a bad dream or something?"

As he asked that, Buffy's back suddenly went stiff. Pushing through her uneasiness, she looked at both of her parents in turn. There was some things that she just needed to know. "Mom where's Dawn?"

When she asked that question she noticed that her father sighed in frustration and rolled his eyes. Looking to her mother, she saw that she looked troubled.

"Buffy." Joyce started softly. "We've talked about this before. You don't have a sister named Dawn." As she said that Buffy wanted to collapse. She was devastated.

"Buffy." her father called out. Looking towards him, both women saw that he was angry.

"Hank please!" Joyce shouted excitedly.

"Buffy... I'm tired... God knows I'm tired of this." Hank said as he started to shake his head. "We've been to the doctors several times and I thought that you were getting better."

"Hank, please don't do this." Joyce begged.

"Joyce this is for the best." Hank replied as he face started to turn red. Looking at his only daughter, that had given him nothing but heartache for several years now, he shook his head again. "Buffy why can't you be happy with the life you have? Do you have any idea the people who would love to have it as good as you?"

"Dad... I don't understand..."

"You aren't this mystical Slayer that you keep dreaming up!" Hank cut her off with a shout. "There's no such thing as vampires, demons, Sunnydale and you don't have a sister at all. It's just us. Baby... I've tried... God knows me and your mother have tried for so long to get you to realize that. I thought that the medicine that you've been taking was working because these last few months you've been doing so good. You were my little girl again. I know that you have schizophrenia but God Buffy... I..." being cut off by his own words, Hank stopped talking and only found the courage to speak again as Joyce reached out to touch his hand. Giving her hand a gentle squeeze he continued. "Your mom and I have been talking about this for some time and this is our last resort. We've discussed that if you had another episode that we would put you in a clinic."

"Dad... please no..." Buffy begged as her eyes went wide.

"Hank... may... maybe we shouldn't..." Joyce stuttered suddenly unsure of what to do.

Looking back to his wife and then Buffy, of whom looked terrified at what he was suggesting, he closed his eyes to think. Opening them back up, he took a deep breath and looked to his daughter again. "Okay this is what we'll do. I'm going to set up an appointment with Dr. Elyon's in a couple of days to see about upping your medication. If things don't work out..." leaving the conversation at that he stood to his feet and quickly walked out of the room.

Thinking about all that was said, Buffy couldn't believe that she wasn't the Slayer. All of what she'd been through over the years just seemed so real, but now that she thought about it, it seemed ridiculous. Vampires, demons, and the dead walking around. It was crazy right? Or have I been going crazy this whole time? She asked herself. For a moment she didn't question her sanity at all as her mom reached out and touched her hand. For the moment all she felt was safe.

Later That Day

Elysian Park

Buffy sat on a bench by herself as she silently watched some adults teaching their children how to play tag football. She had called every number she could remember from the people she knew in Sunnydale and the automated operator said that none of the phone numbers existed. Speaking of not existing, her heart dropped as she consulted a map of California and she saw that Sunnydale wasn't even on it.

But is that a bad thing? She asked herself as she looked around at the palm trees and all of the shiny happy people walking around. For almost six years or what seemed like an eternity she'd fought demons, vampires, zombies, and fought an actual God with no rest and now she seemed to have finally woken up from an endless nightmare. So why aren't I happy? she asked herself. I have my mom and even my dad. She threw that in for good measure. The only thing I don't have is... my friends and Dawn. She realized. Is it fair to leave them behind in a world where everyday they had to fight to survive from hordes of flesh eating zombies and demons.

Just as she had that thought, she saw him walking through a group of people. Jumping to her feet, she watched as he turned to smile at her before disappearing. "Jonathan." Buffy whispered to herself as a hand reached out and pulled her back into reality. Turning she saw that it was her mother.

"Buffy?" Joyce asked as gave her daughter's hand a gentle squeeze. "Are you okay?"

"Mom... I ... I thought I saw..." closing her mouth, Buffy just held her head down in defeat. Her mom would never understand. She'd never understand about Jonathan or how much guilt she felt over his death. "I... can we just go home?"

"Yeah... sure." Joyce replied as she grabbed Buffy's hand, not understanding why her daughter looked so unnerved at the moment. Leading her to their white BMW, she drove them home.

Two Days Later

Doctor Elyon's Office

Psychiatric Ward

Buffy fidgeted as she sat on the plush couch with her parents in the doctor's office. For the past couple of days she had barely slept, because every time she closed her eyes she kept seeing Jonathan or one of her other friends in her dreams.

Through glazed over eyes she saw as a man who suspiciously looked like Morgan Freeman walk into the room. She didn't know what it was about him, but she knew that she could completely trust him. It was like she was supposed to know him, but couldn't quite place where. Seeing the white lab coat and then his name badge, she saw that he was Doctor Elyon as he seemed to be as kind-looking and compassionate as they came.

"Hello, Buffy." Doctor Elyon greeted in a voice that seemed to have power and also seemed to strangely soothe her at the same time. "How are you feeling?"

"I...I don't know." Buffy answered honestly.

"It seems like she's... reverting back to being sick again." Joyce spoke up.

"Mrs. Summers, you have to understand the severity of what's happened to your daughter." Dr. Elyon said as he readjusted his glasses. "Ever since Buffy burnt down her Hemery high school gym six years ago, she's been in an undifferentiated type of schizophrenia..."

"We know what her condition is!" Hank snapped. "That's not what we're asking. For a few month's after you prescribed her that medicine, she's been acting normal. She's been... my little girl again. Can't you... I don't know... give her a higher dosage?"

As he asked that, the doctor hesitated. "There's a lot about schizophrenia that we still don't understand." he said as he sat back in his chair. "But what I can tell you is that she's on the highest dose of medication we have available. Even if we could up the dosage from where she is now... the affects... could kill her."

"What... what can we do?" Joyce asked as she and her husband shared a look.

"Buffy's delusion is multi layered." Elyon replied, not even having to consult his notes. "She believes she's some type of hero..."

"The Slayer." Joyce clarified.

"The Slayer, right." Elyon went on. "But that's only one level. She's also created an intricate lattice work to support her primary delusion. In her mind, she's the central figure in a fantastic world beyond imagination. She's surrounded herself with friends - - most with their own super powers - who are as real to her as you or me. More so, unfortunately. Together they face overblown, grand conflicts against an assortment of monsters, both imaginary and rooted in actual myth. Every time we think we're getting through to her, more fanciful enemies magically appear and she..."

As the doctor continued talking, for the first time Buffy's daze subsided. And everything became clear. "I don't wanna go back there. I wanna be healthy again." Buffy announced as she swallowed hard. "What do I need to do?"

Joyce, Hank and the doctor then looked at Buffy, filled with excitement at her renewed conviction. But then Buffy got light-headed. She felt herself losing presence and reached out, only for Joyce to grab her hand. "Mom... please, help me. I wanna go home. With dad and you."

"I know, honey." Joyce said as her heart started to pound. "Your father and I don't want to leave you here but you have to get better first."

"It's not gonna be easy, Buffy." Elyon said, giving her a reassuring smile. "You have to take it one step at a time." As he said that Joyce started stroking Buffy's hair, reassuring. "You have to start ridding your mind of the things that support your hallucinations. You understand? There's things in that world that you cling to. For your delusion they're safe holds, but for your mind, they're traps. We have to break those down."

As he said that Buffy grew thoughtful, trying to understand. "Slaying?"

"Yes, but... isn't that almost a burden?" the doctor asked. "A responsibility?" Seeing that Buffy didn't truly understand his probe into of her psyche, he explained. "No, by safe holds, I'm talking about the things you want there, Buffy. What keeps you going back?"

After a moment Buffy realized what he was asking. "My friends and my sister."

With a smile the doctor nodded. "Very good. Have you realized that in that world the exact opposite happens here? In that world your parents broke up on bad terms and your father doesn't seem to care for you much. In this one look at your dad. You can see that he has nothing but love for you and he wants you to get healthy. In that world your mom died so you had to create a sister to have a family bond, but look next to you now. She's alive... she's healthy and she's holding onto her baby. For the past six years you've burdened yourself with having to fight demons, monsters, Gods, and every horrible thing your mind could think up. I want you to realize something Buffy. I want you to realize that you can be released of all of that and let go right now and we'll be here to help you."

Buffy inched off the couch and stood up, backing into a corner slowly. Her resolve starting to crumble, heartbeat accelerating. For so long people had been depending on her and now it seemed that she was abandoning them. But are they just illusions? she asked herself as Joyce got up and approached her gently, a little alarmed.

When her mother touched her arm, Buffy became light-headed and brought her hand up to her head. "I... I need some air."

"You can go outside, no one is stopping you." Elyon said as he eyed Buffy and then her parents. "And I'd prefer that you go alone."

As Buffy turned and walked out of the door, her parents and Elyon looked after her. Going through a door marked exit, Buffy walked out onto the roof of the building. Hearing the distant sounds of the city, she walked close to the edge, and closed her eyes. Letting the wind whip through her hair, she felt someone slowly reach around her waist and give her a hug from behind. Turning, her body started to shake as she saw that it was Jonathan dressed in an all white suit.

"This is a beautiful world isn't it?" Jonathan asked her with a friendly smile.

"Jo...Jonathan?" Buffy asked nervously as she took a step back. "Oh God, Jonathan I'm sorry that..."

"Buffy you never have to apologize for anything." he cut her off. "I sacrificed my life for you because you're the only one that can see humanity through a coming storm."

"I don't... I don't understand." Buffy replied as she started to cry. "Jonathan what's going on?"

"What's going on is a decision has to be made." Jonathan replied as he reached over and started to wipe away her tears. "After all you've been through and all that you've done you deserve this paradise. Trust me it's a lot better then being down there." he said as he looked over the side of the building.

"Jonathan you're saying words but you're not making any sense." Buffy said as she threw her arms around him. "Please just tell me what's going on."

Swallowing hard, Jonathan looked deep into her eyes before he spoke. "Buffy you're in the middle of dying."

"Wha... what?" Buffy asked nervously.

"Buffy... that... that guy Brock Lesnar literally beat you to death." Jonathan explained. "The guys have you back at your house right now and they're trying to revive you. You're at a stage now where you can go either way. Since I was an object of... guilt for you, I was chosen to make you an offer. Either you can cross over on the other side with me, your mom, and the others that died or you can go back down there and finish what you started. If you want to cross over with me all you have to do is go back downstairs with your parents and you'll forget about this conversation. You'll live an endless cycle of peace until all of the others crossover."

Her heart pounding, Buffy was faced with an impossible choice. She could choose to go to heaven and live in bliss, or go back to a world with monsters. But then she remembered something or rather some people. Dawn, Gunn and all of her friends. There was no way she was going to let them die in agony. Giving Jonathan a look, he knew her decision was made and he gave her a sad smile.

"How did, I know that you were going to make that choice?" he asked as his hand hovered over her chest. Not noticing but she was on the edge of the roof. "Goodbye Buffy. Tell Amy, I miss her everyday and that she is loved." Leaning over Buffy suddenly kissed him softly on the lips. It wasn't sexual, and Jonathan knew that but it still made his heart skip a beat. "Wow."

"Amy told me she missed out on giving you a kiss and I just thought..."

"I understand." Jonathan replied with a smile as his cheeks turned a bright red. "Just make sure it's awhile before we see each other again. I don't know what your future holds but just... just take care of yourself and take care of them."

"I will." Buffy said quietly. "I'm ready."

"Just remember three things Buffy." Jonathan started as he touched her chest. "Remember that we'll always be here." The second part he whispered into her ear and the news was so shocking that she looked to him with wide eyes. Whether Jonathan realized her discomfort or not, she'd never know as he stopped talking and suddenly morphed into Angel.

"Just breathe." Angel said the third thing as he pushed her off the side of the building. Seemingly in slow motion, before she fell, she looked over her first true loves shoulder and saw her mom, Giles, Miss Calender, a little girl that suspiciously looked like Angel, Tara, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Anne, Oz, strangely enough a green skinned demon with a loud yellow suit, Alonna, Jonathan, and an assortment of other people that she knew but couldn't help all of whom seemed to be waiting on her.

"Breathe!" Buffy heard someone yell out. With a gasp Buffy shot up off of a medical bed and saw Dr. Lexie Carver standing over her, with Gunn and Dawn behind her.

"Buffy!" Dawn shouted out as Gunn held her back.

"Buffy, can you hear me?" Dr. Carver asked as she checked her vitals.

"Yea... yeah." Buffy replied, as Gunn let Dawn go. As the two sisters hugged, Buffy looked up at her boyfriend and saw that he to was caught up in emotion.

Later That Morning

Buffy's Room In The Makeshift Hospital

Picking up a hand mirror, Buffy looked over the scars and bruises she had received from her fight with Brock. He had made good on his promise to give her a beating of a lifetime up to the point where she almost died. She made a promise of her own though, that the next time they fought he wouldn't be so lucky, Slayer scythe or no Slayer scythe.

Hearing someone coming into the room, she put away the mirror. Dawn then came in, carrying a cup. With a wince Buffy just laid in bed, her focus drifting in and out like she was on the edge of sleep.

"I made you some tea." Dawn announced as she laid it down on the bedside table. Buffy looked at Dawn, confused for a moment.

"Oh. Thanks." Buffy said tiredly as she managed a vague smile as she sat up in bed. Seeing her struggling Dawn helped her. "I'm okay Dawn." Buffy said distantly.

"Enough with the ego trip already." Dawn replied as she put her hand to Buffy's forehead and frowned. "You're burning up."

"Lexie... Lexie said that it'll go away by tomorrow." Buffy told her. "She's been giving me medicine for it. I should be taller than you." Buffy noticed.

"Maybe you're not done growing." Dawn joked as they slipped into a uncomfortable silence.

There was definitely an elephant in the room. Not being able to take it anymore Buffy told Dawn all about her time "away" and her fear that she was somewhere locked up in an asylum and that they were just figments of her imagination.

"No. Buffy look at me." Dawn said as Buffy did just that. "You're not in an institution. You've never been in an institution."

A moment passed and Buffy softly started to rock back and forth. "Yes I have." she confessed.

"What?" Dawn asked as Buffy took a moment.

"You remember when I told you, I ran away to Las Vegas with that guy named Pike?" Buffy asked as Dawn nodded. "Well when I came back home I confessed to mom and dad about vampires and they freaked out. Figured there was something seriously wrong with me. They sent me to a clinic."

"You never said anything." Dawn said in shock.

"I never wanted you to know." Buffy replied as she reached out and touched Dawn's face, still unsure if any of this was real. "I was only there a couple of weeks. I stopped talking about vampires so they let me go. And eventually, mom and dad just... forgot."

Buffy then wiped a tear from her eye and Dawn also seemed to get misty eyed by this new information.

"God. That's that's just horrible."

"What if I never left Dawn?" Buffy cried finally breaking as she started to rock back and forth even harder in her bed. "What if I'm still in that clinic trapped in my own mind?"

"Buffy, you're not." Dawn affirmed as she took Buffy's hand and placed it over her heart. " Do you feel my heart beating? Does that feel real to you? I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but it's in the past."

"Okay." Buffy said silently. At least somebody was convinced.

"Good." Dawn said as she leaned down and kissed Buffy on the forehead. "Now get some sleep." as Dawn headed towards the door, there was still one thing she needed to know. "I just gotta ask one question though. After all you saw in that place... like mom... why didn't you stay there?"

"Because it wasn't all the way perfect." Buffy answered as she met her sister's gaze. "It was missing one thing. It was missing you."

Her heart catching, Dawn swiftly turned and walked out of the room to keep from crying. Staring after her Buffy smiled to herself. Dawn was really growing up to be a beautiful young woman. At least now she knew that her mom was watching over them.

After a moment, she heard a knock on the door and her boyfriend came into the room with flowers. "I got these from Lexie's garden." Gunn told her. "I thought that... well I thought it would help brighten up the room a little."

"Thank you." Buffy replied as he sat the flowers down on her nightstand and they kissed. "I thought that you could use some sleep, so I told the others to hold off on trying to see you. I'll um... I'll come back later."

"No... sit down with me for a while." Buffy said even as she let out a yawn. She could look deep into her man's eyes and tell that he didn't want to deal with her near death at the moment so she backed off the subject. At least for now. "What's been going on?"

"Well the only good news we have is Warren hasn't decided to try to attack us again." Gunn said letting out a sigh. "They took a lot of heavy casualties last night but I don't see him giving up. How are we going to deal with that guy and Brock anyway?"

By doing something I promised, I would never do to another human being. Buffy thought to herself. "We'll figure out something."

"Amy is looking at trying to somehow fix your Slayer scythe but honestly it's not looking all that good." Gunn went on. "That's pretty much it besides me getting my girl back."

"I feel like you're not telling me everything." Buffy said suddenly becoming more perceptive. "What else is going on?"

Damn. Gunn thought to himself. I was hoping she wouldn't ask. "It's Fred." he told her. "She's missing."

"Missing?" Buffy asked with wide eyes.

"When we were gone to deal with Warren, the big house got attacked by some androids and now she's gone." Gunn explained. "Amy tried to do a locator spell but she didn't pick up anything. I got Kendra and Henry out there looking for her now."

Place Unknown

"Please don't hurt me!" a blindfolded Fred, yelped out as she was pushed roughly down to a floor.

Trying to find her bearings, she tried to get up, only for someone to snatch off her blindfold. Being exposed to an almost blinding light, she closed her eyes only opening them as she felt a presence in front of her. Opening her eyes she jumped back in shock as she saw Warren Mears in front of her with a sadistic smile, wearing an eye patch.

"Welcome back to Warrenville Fred." Warren said as his one eye burned with an unknowable desire. "I hope you enjoy your stay."


	20. Chapter 19 What We've Become

Chapter 19

What We've Become

Buffy hobbled over to her full length mirror and took a look at the fading bruises on her body. It had been over three days and her Slayer healing was rapidly repairing the damage Brock Lesnar had inflicted on her. There were still miles to go on her body being fully healed but at least Warren and his lackeys hadn't tried to attack them again.

Grabbing a pair of scissors, she cut her ponytail in half. As her golden locks fell to the floor, the hair on her head suddenly dangled. Looking back to her mirror, she saw that her hair was the same length as when she had first arrived in Sunnydale, when her hair was to her shoulders. She'd get one of the other women to help her style it at a later time.

Falling to the floor, she suddenly started to kick out a blindingly fast array of push ups. As her body started to kick into over drive and she started to sweat, she closed her eyes and started to plan her next move. There was no way around this. They were on a collision course with Warren now and there was no way to stop it.

The only thing about it was she didn't know who was going to live or who was going to die. She didn't know what Warren's motivation was for lying on and then attacking them in the first place, but none of that mattered now. What mattered now was mounting a rescue mission to go and get Fred. She didn't need Amy's magick to know that that bastard had her. All Buffy hoped at the moment was that there was something for them to save when they went back for her.

Finishing off her exercise routine, Buffy lightly stretched before closing her eyes. It was show time. Changing her clothes and gathering some weapons, she walked out of her room and into her kitchen where the others were waiting, armed to the teeth with weapons. This was truly what life had come to.

"Hey you cut your hair." Riley perked up as he saw her come into the room. Feeling a pair of eyes on him, he saw Gunn and his wife Samantha staring at him. "Um... it looks nice."

"It's time." she said simply as she walked into the room. "Henry, I know you want to be let in on the action but I need someone here to watch out for the others." Buffy said as she looked to the teen girls, their engineer Mr. Wellington, a few people that were found with Henry in the mall, and Dr. Carver. "I want you to stay in Dr. Carver's basement and if we're not back by the end of the day..." she stopped herself for a moment before meeting his gaze. "...then I want you to gather as many supplies as you can and leave. If Warren get's past us then he'll come here and..."

"I understand." the big man, Henry, told her. The only place he could think to take them was the same place he wanted his team to go to before Jesse found them. He wanted to go to Catalina Island.

"Good." Buffy replied with a nod of her head as she looked to the others. "Everybody else, you know what we have to do. Hey where's Amy?"

Amy's Room

The Slayer's scythe hovered in mid-air and stitched back together where it was broken. Holding her hand out, Amy tried to take it only for it to snap in half again and fall with a loud audible clang to the floor.

"Damn!" Amy cursed. She still wasn't powerful enough to fix the damage that was done to the scythe. Hearing someone knock on the door, she looked up and saw Buffy walk into the room. "Oh hey."

"Hey." Buffy replied with a small smile. "You missed an important meeting."

"Sorry." the young witch replied with a forced smile as she pointed to the floor. "I was busy working on that."

"I'm not going to lie like the scythe isn't important." Buffy said as she glanced down to the floor at the broken weapon. "But your safety is even more important to me. I want you to stay here with Henry and the others. I'm taking everyone else with me because I feel... I feel like this is going to be the final showdown with Warren." the Slayer admitted. "If... if we don't make it back, I need you to protect Henry and the girls and make sure they get to that island he was talking about. Make sure the world never forgets us."

"Okay." Amy replied with a nod of her head. "I understand."

"Good... I'll see you later." Buffy hoped as she turned to leave. Stopping in her tracks as her hand touched the door, she just had to say something. "Before I go, I wanted you to know something. When I died on that table, I went to this place."

"What, like a hell dimension?"

"No... it was somewhere else." Buffy replied with a gulp at what she was about to say next. But still she didn't turn around to face the beautiful witch. "I... I saw Jonathan there. He wanted me to tell you that he missed you and that you were loved." Resisting the urge to choke up a little at her admission, Buffy swiftly walked out of the room.

Wanting to bury what Buffy had confessed to her as a delusion of a dying woman, Amy just picked up the scythe and went back to work again. The longer and longer she worked and tried to concentrate on what she was doing, the more and more she thought about what Buffy had said. The image of Jonathan pulling at her heartstrings, she shook her head in an effort to get back to what was important.

Warren's Secret Room

Later That Day

Warren pulled back his eye patch to put ointment on his scarred face and where his eye used to be. Grimacing at the pain, he still felt from his attack, he rubbed the white glob on his face. As he pulled the patch back over his face, he turned and looked at the bloodied and bruised form of Fred. She was laying unconscious in a six foot tall tube, that once activated would cause the person inside of it to feel pain beyond pain. That was why the Duo happily named it the agony booth.

Zipping up his pants, he walked towards the booth and lightly tapped on the glass with his hand. "Wake up bitch." Warren said softly. "The day is still young." seeing that she didn't rouse, his one eye widened in anger as he tapped at the control station next to him. "I said wake up!" as he shouted that out an electrical arc shot through the tube and electrocuted her. With a scream and her heart pounding, Fred's eyes went wide as she looked through the glass and saw her captor standing over her. "There's my girl."

"Warren the..." Andrew stopped talking as he looked from the battered form of Fred to Warren. He had heard the girls screams for a couple of days now and he was too afraid to help. Seemingly he couldn't help at all anyway because the other man would never let him into the room. And it wasn't like he could call the police.

"I thought I told you not to come in here!?" Warren growled angrily as his eye danced in anger.

"It... it's just that... I... I assembled the town like you wanted me to." Andrew stuttered. He never knew that the apocalypse had affected his friend so much to where he was now embracing evil. Warren had already been an asshole but this. Thinking about it, maybe this was already inside the other man's heart and he just needed a push in that direction.

"Good, at least somebody around here is good for something." Warren replied as he walked over to his work bench, picked up his shirt and put it on. "Buffy and her team slayed all of my code red vampires and they destroyed all of my androids except Dana. I'm gonna convince some of my towns men to watch the gate until I can create more. Stay here and watch the cameras. Let Brock know if anybody shows up."

"O...kay but..."

"But what!?" Warren snapped out.

"No...nothing." Andrew replied with a gulp.

"I'll be back for you later." Warren said as he touched Fred's tube and walked out of the room.

Suddenly alone with Fred, Andrew quickly looked away from her and started to look at the security monitors. Fidgeting, he looked from the monitors and then back to her. Deciding to not get involved and just do his job, he watched the monitors again. That was until one of a woman's greatest weapons and a man's greatest weakness was revealed. Fred started to cry.

His heart starting to twist, Andrew turned around and looked to her broken form, whimpering in a corner. Defying Warren's orders, on shaky legs Andrew stood up and went to a side panel and opened up the agony booth. Walking inside of it, he crouched down beside her and watched as she recoiled away from him.

"Hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt you." Andrew assured. "I'm not him."

Still afraid, Fred still leaned into his embrace. Holding onto the tiny woman for dear life, Andrew suddenly became protective of her. His eyes roaming her body, there was no doubt in his mind that in addition to Warren beating on her, he had also quite possibly raped her as well. Feeling that the young woman probably hadn't eaten or had anything for some time, he let her go and walked over to a desk and poured her a glass of water.

Sitting next to her again, he held the glass up to her lips and watched as she quickly gulped it down. His heart going out to her, he suddenly made a decision that he hoped wouldn't get him killed. "Come on." he told her as he looped her arm around his and started to help her stand to her feet. "Let's get you something to eat."

As he led her out of the booth, the new proximity alarm, that he had installed, suddenly sounded. Helping her to a chair, he rushed over to check on the monitor and his eyes widened as he saw Buffy and almost every member of her group with her. Knowing that what he was about to do next would cause his death, he took one look at Fred and his decision was made. Typing into his laptop, he opened up the gate.

Warrenville

Town Square

Buffy and her army slowly walked through Warrenville, wondering why the front gate was open and if they were walking straight into a trap or not. To be honest at the moment no one cared. They either wanted to get Fred and leave or perish pushing back the darkness for one more day. As they neared the center of town they heard the rumbling of many voices. Voices that only got louder the closer and closer they got to the middle of the city.

Finally making it to the center of town they saw what seemed to be all of Warrenville outside with their so called fearless leader on top of a grande stage speaking to them about her group and how dangerous they were. As they slipped into the crowd and started to listen to Warren at that moment it made Buffy sick. It made her family sick. At that moment in time Warren reminded Buffy of Hitler on how he swayed the crowd, making them think that she and the others were the aggressors and that he was only trying to protect them. As she had that thought, he told them that it was now there time to defend the city that they now called home and as he said that word his one eye met her beautiful green ones.

In a matter of moments, their rescue mission turned to a mission of simple survival as all of the residents of Warrenville turned to her and her group with angry, vengeful eyes. As they started to get surrounded by the towns people, they suddenly parted like the red sea as Brock Lesnar walked from behind them with his war hammer.

"No one interferes with this battle or else!" Brock yelled out as he eyed the Slayer with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. With one look to her people, they knew not to interfere no matter what happened. "Buffy."

"Brock." Buffy replied as she eyed him evenly and sheathed her Colt. In the time it would take to blink an eye, she ran forward, jumped up and Superman punched Brock hard in the face.

Shaking off the blow, Brock swung his hammer, and with cat like reflexes Buffy dodged it. With a growl the muscle bound jock pulled her around and slammed her into a wall of a nearby building, pushing the hammer into her chest. Tapping into her Slayer strength, Buffy pushed the hammer up and away from her. As Brock pulled down on it, he flipped Buffy over onto her back. Her eye sight going in and out, she suddenly saw Jonathan standing over her.

"Buffy get up!" Jonathan shouted as a new source of power surged through her body. "You've got ... a world of strength in your heart. I know you do. You just have to find it again. Believe in yourself."

"Robur." Buffy whispered as Brock started to bear down on her. Jumping to her feet, before he could come down with the hammer, she side kicked him hard in the ribs, before going into a series of short and tight forward flips to get some distance.

"You... you got a second wind." Brock wheezed out as he held onto his sore ribs with his loose hand.

"Yeah." Buffy replied as she balled up her fists. "And it's blowing like a hurricane."

With surprising quickness, Brock ran forward and grabbed her by the neck. With a growl Buffy dug her nails into his hand as she grit her teeth and grunted in pain. Seeing that he wouldn't let go, she grabbed his arm and rolled him over and away. As they both scrambled to their feet, Buffy kicked the hammer out of the jocks hand. His weapon gone, Brock tried two punches, which Buffy easily blocked. Ducking a swing to her head, she swung back, but Brock grabbed her arm in mid-swing and flipped her over onto the ground, making her let out a pained breath.

As Brock reached down for her, Buffy kicked up with both legs into his face and made him fall backward to the ground. Still having the strength to carry on, they both scrambled to their feet again. Pushing through the pain, Buffy did a roundhouse kick to her opponents face. He fell again, but hopped right back to his feet. They then faced each other, ready to continue the fight, however even matched they were.

Not being able to take the staring contest anymore, Buffy moved forward but Brock moved out of the way of the girl's thrust before he ducked another swing from her. She then tried a direct thrust, which he just pushed aside, but he was unprepared as she followed it up with a punch to the face from her other hand and then using her momentum to spin around for a roundhouse kick that nearly knocked him through a wall.

When he got back up he spat out blood and watched as Buffy charged him with a stake held above her head in both hands. He blocked her charge with his arms and twisted her arms down, forcing her to drop the stake, before shoving her away from him. He tried to knock her legs out from under her, but her footing was firm and she kicked him in the back, knocking him down instead. Once down he tried kicking again, and this time made her fall. She then grabbed his shirt, pulled him up a bit and kicked him in the face.

Scrambling to their feet again, Brock swung and missed. He then swung the other way, but she blocked it and punched him three times in the gut and then a right hook to his jaw. Pressing the advantage she shoved him into a wall and as he bounced off of it, she kicked him in the chest, making him stumble backward out of breath, but still on his feet. As he looked at her with cold eyes as he tried to recover, she literally ran across the side of the wall and Superman punched him hard in the face again. As his head snapped back, she put all the Slayer strength she could muster into one final punch, that she used to punch him so hard that her hand went through his chest.

Eyes rolling in the back of his head, Brock fell to the ground dead. A pool of blood, starting to cover the ground below him. Standing over him and wiping his blood off of her hand, Buffy knew that she had done the right thing. It wasn't as if he were human anyway. At least that's what she believed before she heard Warren's confession.

"You know what's funny?" Warren asked as Buffy turned around to look at him. Gunn had him down on his knees before her, as the others held the town back at gunpoint. "It doesn't matter what you do to me now. I made you go against your high and mighty Slayer code. I made you kill a human."

"What are you..."

"Andrew and I enhanced Brock's strength with magick from his troll hammer." Warren explained as he started to laugh. "Congratulations. You just killed a human."

"I...I..."

"Look around you, Slayer." Warren interrupted her stammering. "This is quite possibly the last dregs of humanity and you just killed a human in front of them. Do you really think you have a place amongst them now? I saved these people and you being here will damn them."

As he said that, he suddenly heard a recording of his voice telling Andrew how he really felt about the inhabitants of Warrenville, about what he did to weary travelers that didn't want to join his community, and how he attacked Buffy and her group playing over a large monitor behind him.

Everyone looking to him now, Warren glanced up and saw Andrew, with Fred leaning on him for support, coming out of another building. Quickly figuring everything out, Warren smiled ruefully to himself. That little son of a bitch set me up. He thought to himself.

"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy." Warren started as he looked deep into Buffy's eyes. "That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day."

"You idiot." Buffy said as she dropped down to her knees in front of him. After all the man had done to her and the others she still wanted to give him a second chance. "Don't you understand? I don't want to hurt you. I don't want either of us to end up killing the other. But we're both running out of alternatives, and we both know it. Maybe it all hinges on today. Maybe this is our last chance to sort this whole damn mess out. If you don't take it, then we're both locked onto a suicide course. Both of us. To the death. It doesn't have to end like that. I don't know what it was that bent your life out of shape, but who knows? Maybe I've been there too. Maybe I can help. We could work together. I could rehabilitate you. You don't need to be out there on the edge anymore. You don't have to be alone. We don't have to kill each other. What do you say?"

"You can let me go right now but let me tell you that, I'll come back to this place and burn it to the ground." Warren replied as evil started to fill his heart. "I'll be your living nightmare."

"No!" they heard Fred yell out. Before anyone could stop her, she picked up a gun and shot Warren four times in the chest, sending him to the ground in a heap. Not even having to look at him, Buffy already knew that he was dead.

With a gulp, Gunn reached over and took the gun out of Fred's trembling hands. Seeing that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, he pulled her close and let her fall into him as she cried into his chest.

As Buffy surveyed the death around her, she suddenly saw as the entire community seemed to be looking at her now, as if they wanted her to tell them what to do. Her mind reeling, Andrew suddenly fell at her feet.

"He... he wasn't like this at first." Andrew started as tears formed in his eyes. "When he started to get sick in the mind it was too late. I... I didn't really know what he was. Just please... please don't kill me."

Is that what people think I am now? Buffy questioned herself. Buffy the human killer?

Feeling the natives gaze on her again, she realized that they were waiting on an answer from her. Looking down at Andrew, there was only one thing she could say. "I've been to too many funerals."

As she started to walk away from the broken man, Dawn suddenly ran into her arms. With watery eyes, she looked to Dawn out of fear of what she now thought of her. She had just killed a man. Hell, Fred had just killed a man. Where were they going to go from here? At the moment she just wanted to go somewhere and curl up and cry.

Head starting to spin, she overheard Riley and Sam trying to gather the crowd together to let them know that everything was all right.

"Buffy!"

Buffy's back went stiff as she heard that familiar male voice calling her name. Turning around, her eyes widened as she saw Hank Summers standing not fifteen feet away from her. He had a a big scruffy beard and looked noticeably unkempt but still it was her dad.

"Daddy?" Buffy called out as Dawn let go of her and ran into her father's arms, who instantly gave her a hug. Still not believing what she was seeing, Buffy shook her head in disbelief before she looked to see a little ten year old girl standing behind him.

She had dirty blond hair and almost looked like she did when she was a little girl. Not knowing what the hell was going on, her heart skipped a beat as the raven haired Dark Slayer stepped away from behind her father.

"Hey, B." Faith said with a wicked smile as she looked down at the dead bodies on the ground. "You know how to throw one hell of a party."

A/N There's one more chapter left for this season guys. Please review to let me know if you want me to continue this story after it.


	21. Chapter 20 Too Far Gone

A/N Thanks for those delightful reviews guys and I'm glad you're still reading my work.

Chapter 20

Too Far Gone

Buffy's body cracked slightly as she crouched down, ready for another brawl. In reality she'd given all she had fighting Brock and she didn't know if she'd survive a go with the Dark Slayer. As she had those frightening thoughts of dying for her friends, her sister Slayer Kendra was suddenly by her side, supporting her.

"Identify yourself!" Kendra yelled out as she saw Buffy tense at seeing the new woman.

"Hey easy, B." Faith said as she took a step back. "This ain't what it seems."

"Faith! What the hell are you doing here?" Riley asked hotly as he brought up his rifle.

"Hey everybody just relax." Hank begged as he let go of Dawn and walked towards his oldest daughter. Buffy would always have feelings of the man being her father but she didn't like him, nor respect him, and would never forgive him for walking out on their family. "I don't fully know what's going on myself but maybe we should all go somewhere and..." before he could complete his sentence the reanimated corpses of Warren and Brock suddenly sat up off of the ground.

Before anybody could think to do anything, a pair of sai's hovered in the air and embedded into their heads re-killing them. As everyone seemed to collectively say what the fuck, a light around them suddenly shimmered and Buffy literally saw a girl she thought she'd never see again. It was Marcie Ross, the invisible girl from high school.

"You gotta aim for the head, yeah." Faith commented as Marcie twirled her sai's around and walked towards her.

Looking back and forth between the invisible assassin and Faith, Buffy decided to keep her eyes on the dark haired woman. Glaring deep into Faith's eyes and not having the strength to fight anyway, Buffy dropped her guard. Her eyes starting to droop, Buffy suddenly looked to Riley. "These people don't know what to do. Tell them that everything is going to be all right so we can start to help them."

"Everybody listen up!" Riley yelled out as he and Sam addressed the crowd again. He took another look at Buffy and decided that they really needed to have a long talk about what he knew she must have been feeling at the moment from having to kill someone in the public's eye. Hell he really needed to talk to Fred as well.

As they started to go towards the people, Buffy saw as they started to drag away the bodies of Warren and Brock, before she looked towards her boyfriend. "Take Fred somewhere where she can lay down. Stay with her because she needs someone strong to talk to." Scooping the still crying Fred up in his arms, he gave her a nod before walking off towards the apartments they had when they first lived in Warrenville. "Gwen use your radio and tell Amy that everything is... okay and that we'll be home soon."

As Gwen turned away, Hank and Dawn suddenly approached the Slayer. "Buffy, I can't tell you how happy I am to see..." as he reached out to hug her, she suddenly brushed past him. She'd been hurt by the man once before and never again.

"Buffy it's da..." Dawn stopped talking as she looked into her sisters eyes. She didn't know what Buffy had been through with their father so she decided to let sleeping dogs lie.

Looking around she saw Warren's house on the hill that Gunn had told her about in one of his reports. Seeing that it was as good as any place to have a meeting, she started to walk. Stumbling, Kendra was suddenly at her side wrapping her arm around hers.

"I've got you." Kendra whispered into her hair. "No matter what happens, I've got you."

Touched by her words and her gesture, Buffy leaned into her sister Slayer's embrace. As they slowly started to walk, Buffy saw Andrew still on his knees. She didn't know much about him, but trusting her gut she knew deep down that he was still a good person, despite him helping Warren. "You're still needed here." as she whispered that to him, a tear fell from the tiny man's eyes as he looked up at her.

Her eyes starting to droop again, Buffy looked back at Faith and nodded to her, letting her know that she wanted her and her group to follow her. "Whose dat girl?" Kendra asked as they got a certain distance from the others.

"When you died... Faith was your replacement." Buffy responded as Kendra's back went stiff.

Shaking the dark thoughts of Buffy's words out of her head, Kendra continued to help her into the posh manor. Following her instincts, she led Buffy and the others into Warren's living room. Carefully placing the senior Slayer in a chair, Kendra stood behind her to keep a watchful eye on the new group, particularly Marcie. Taking her eyes off of the invisible girl for a second, she looked towards Buffy again.

When they had first met, the other woman was dripping with power but now she seemed broken down, weak, and fragile. So fragile that she reminded her of one of those pretty porcelain dolls that she wanted Mr. Zabuto to give her when she was a little girl, but never got. It was at that moment Kendra knew that she had to become as Buffy's right hand to protect her and the others. Looking at Dawn, who sat next to her sister, she knew that she couldn't fail at that task.

"All right, Faith." Buffy started as she struggled to get comfortable in her chair, fighting back her sleepiness. Putting her hands on the armrests of her chair, she looked directly across the table at the dark haired woman. "How did you get here?"

"Before you start, I just wanted to say something." Hank interrupted as the little girl from before suddenly sat in his lap. "I... I wanted to say that... I'm sorry for not being at your moms funeral." as he said that he looked more towards Dawn, who had managed to contact him shortly after his ex wife was buried. "And... and I'm sorry that I haven't been there for you girls." to her credit at least Dawn seemed to accept his apology. His oldest daughter however seemed to stare past him.

"Whose the kid?" Buffy asked simply, making Hank gulp and hold the silent girl tight in his arms.

Steeling his nerve, Hank looked her in the eye. "She's your baby sister."

"What!" Buffy exploded as she slapped her hand on the table and stood to her feet. "She... she has to be like eight or nine."

"Sarah just turned ten." Hank interrupted her. "I was... I was having an affair with my secretary Michelle for years and she had my Sarah. I couldn't take lying to your mother anymore so I told her what happened and we got a divorce."

"But... but we used to spend the weekend at your house." Dawn spoke up, her heart tearing apart. It seemed that their whole life was a lie. She could only imagine how Buffy felt because for years Buffy thought that her burning down her school gym and proclaiming that vampires were real were the cause of their parents divorce. But now... "Buffy even spent a whole summer with you and she..."

"I told Michelle to take Sarah to our summer home then." Hank told her. "I thought it would be easier if you girls didn't know about this."

"So you were content with me and Dawn not knowing that we had a sister?" Buffy asked through gritted teeth. As if she had ran out of reasons to dislike the man.

"Where's Jerry Springer when you need him?" Marcie whispered over to Faith. Slapping her arm lightly, Faith reminded her of Slayer hearing. As both young women looked over the table they saw Buffy and Kendra staring coldly at them.

Tearing her gaze away from the Dark Slayer for a moment, Buffy suddenly looked towards her new found sister, who was staring at her just as intensely. Breaking the staring contest, Buffy looked back to her father in disgust before looking over at Faith again.

"Well?"

"You might wanna sit back down for this story, B." Faith told her as she sat back and propped her feet up on the table. "Cause it's gonna be some of the craziest shit you ever heard."

Sub-basement

Somewhere in Warrenville

A naked male android laid on a table as a glowing green uranium power core was suddenly covered by synthetic skin on it's stomach. As it's eyes snapped open, the Warren android sat up and took a power cord out from the back of it's head.

Months ago the real Warren had found the core close to the city and had taken and embedded it in an android copy of himself. He had the idea that he wouldn't live forever so he had made the android to not only be self sustaining but it would get all of his memories up until the time of his death.

"Just beyond the stroke of death." the Warren android said as it smiled to himself. "Soon, Slayer. Oh so very soon."

End season two.

A/N If you guys want more let me know in a review and I'll be back with the start of season three in a few weeks that will chronicle how Faith and her team made it to where Buffy is and it'll show what exactly happened to Angel, Cordelia, and the others.


	22. Chapter 21 Into The Hands Of Death

A/N This section of the story/ Faith's version of events, serves as a prequel to The Last of Us and Cold Bodies and will lead up to how she arrived where Buffy is. This chapter is also the prologue for season 3. I also wanted to say that you're going to see a slightly different Faith in this fic. One that I hopefully believe you guys see as more developed and someone truly looking for redemption in chaos.

Chapter 21

Into The Hands Of Death

A beautiful red and black 1995 Harley Davidson Sportster zoomed through the I-5 highway headed towards Los Angeles. It was rode by an equally beautiful raven haired young woman, wearing leather pants and a leather duster with a katana strapped to her back and a bag of weapons strapped to the seat.

She couldn't help but smile, as the wind blew through her hair and the sun shone on her face. She was free from jail. The smile was short lived and her expression turned downright grim at what she saw ahead of her in the distance.

"God damn." she said as she slowed the bike and then parked it on the side of the highway.

Skyscrapers loomed like silent tombstones, several of them just charred husks. They had to have caught on fire a few days ago, because that's when she had heard about the riots and the dead walking. Or maybe the military had dropped bombs on the city to keep the infection down, like they did in the movies. She couldn't tell from the distance she was now at but some of them looked to be still burning.

Looking straight ahead on the freeway, the lanes going into the city were nearly full, but the lanes heading out were choked with thousands of abandoned cars, trucks, and SUVs. Starting her bike back up, she drove by and observed many wrecks.

Car doors were left hanging open, fenders were crumpled, and windshields were smashed. But what was more sickening were all the dead bodies left to rot in their vehicles. It was the result of everybody trying to leave at once, people probably turning in the streets, and others just being barbaric. Some ran out of gas, others lost their lives to accidents, but riding by some of the cars she saw that some had been shot up or looked as if their bodies had been gnawed on. It was an endless river of metal and dead people.

Having seen enough, she drove on. She had to find Angel.

Coming off of the highway, Faith rode slowly down a major street. Windows were broken out of buildings and the road was littered with vehicles, some over turned and trash slowly billowing in the wind. The motorcycle swerved back and forth through the objects, the Hyperion Hotel slowly coming into view.

Corpses laid out openly on the street. Eaten. She had seen tons of dead demons and had even killed a couple of people herself,, but this was insane. These people were slaughtered out on the street with no police or paramedics to help them. From the looks of them they had been outside, baking in the hot Los Angeles sun for days.

As she continued to ride forward, figures appeared here and there. Zombies. They peered out of broken windows, straggled out of office doorways, one even emerged out of a burned out bus.

Knowing that she could release them of their pain of hunger, if only for a minute they started to follow her. Deciding since it was only a hand full of them, she revved her engine, gave the Harley some gas and easily out-distanced them.

Suddenly she heard someone yelling. It was distant and who ever it was voice came and went almost teasingly. Stopping for a second, she used her Slayer hearing to listen over the sound of her bike. Whoever was yelling was silent now.

Deciding that maybe she was just hearing things, she was just about to give her bike some gas when she heard the yell again. Trying to track the sound, as it echoed and bounced off buildings, she figured out where it was coming from. The Hyperion.

Revving the bike again she took off in that direction and turned a corner. That's when she knew that she had made two horror movie don'ts. Don't ever come into a big city after an outbreak and if you had too never come on something that makes a lot of noise.

Stopping the bike on a dime and making it turn halfway, cold fear slammed through her as she saw that the streets were filled with walkers. Not just a few like before, but there was dozens of them.

Hearing the noise of the bike, the walkers turned their dead greedy eyes to her. Without dramatic fanfare the mass of the dead surged towards her.

"Fuck!" Faith yelled out as she wheeled the bike around and took off like a shot.

But to her dismay the dead were surging from that direction too. Trying not to panic she reared the bike to try to go the other way. Nearly being thrown off in the process, she held on and started to plow through them.

The walkers grabbed and clawed at her and with surprising strength from them, she was thrown off of her bike. She landed hard on the pavement, the wind being knocked out of her. Managing to recover quickly, she stood up and unsheathed her sword. Looking around herself, she smiled darkly as she saw that she was surrounded.

A/N Please review


	23. Chapter 22 Bitten and Knocked Out

A/N So this doesn't confuse anyone the chapter before this one was the prologue and this story will eventually catch up to the point where Faith will get into that predicament. For now this story takes place a few days after people started to turn and is spreading like a wildfire through California and most of the world. Since Faith is in jail, she knows little about it.

Chapter 22

Bitten and Knocked Out

Stockton, California.

Northern California Women's Facility

Coils of barbed wire topped a chain linked fence. Women inside the fence played cards at picnic tables, playing basketball, working out. And with a sneer a security guard named Tom Bearse watched them all.

'God I hate this fucking job.' he thought to himself. 'All these damn women and not a looker among them. There is that Faith girl though...' he thought loosely to himself.

He had tried to put the moves on her almost as soon as she was transferred to the facility, but she had nearly broken his arm and gotten him into trouble.

'Stupid bitch.' as he thought that, he rolled his eyes as another CO whispered into his ear over his headset radio. 'Speak of the devil.'

"430019 Coming out!" he angrily announced to the crowd.

As he said that all eyes turned as the gate buzzed, and Faith walked out into the yard. Ignoring the stares and even the cat calls, she walked over to the exercise equipment. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, she saw armed guards watching over the "C-Block Exercise Yard" as female prisoners got their recreation outdoors.

With a sigh, she thought over her life and all the bad things she had done and the reasons why. It was as if fate itself had set her up to fail from the very beginning by giving her an abusive mom, being abused by men, and being raised in a seedy environment next to crack whores, drugs and winos. That all stopped after she talked to Angel. He had told her that sometimes in life the only choices you have are the bad ones but you still have to choose. Speaking of the vampire with a soul, he had called her a few days before to update her on life outside of jail and he had warned her of some new flu virus that was sweeping through California.

With another sigh, she couldn't help the life choices she had made now and looked around at her prison. Shaking her head, she started doing pull-ups with ease as she gazed away from the yard, through the fence. Closing her eyes, she felt a familiar sensation. One that she'd thought she had buried. It was her Slayer sense and it strangely started to tingle. There was a demon nearby. Not some sort of half breed like she'd met while incarcerated but a full fledged demon and it was inching ever so close to her. She figured that it had to be in some sort of human form because no one was reacting to it's presence.

Before the thing could touch her, Faith turned around on the bar and kicked the thing in the face, knocking her down. Flipping forward, Faith dismounted from the bar and landed on her feet. Giving the thing a long hard look, Faith saw that it was a woman with dead bleeding eyes, that lay sprawled on the ground. As the woman let out a low moan, Faith quickly put two and two together knew what the woman was. She was a zombie.

With a growl the thing quickly shambled back to it's feet. Squaring up, Faith got into a fighting stance and kicked her in the stomach. Looking around Faith grabbed a bell bar with a huge weight at either end and jabbed one end into the zombies face, breaking her nose. As she went for a killing blow, one of the guards quickly hit her with his nightstick across the back of the head where she had received brain damage from her fight with Buffy over a year ago. Being brought down to one knee, from the viscous blow, she was struck again on the back of the head knocking her to the ground.

Trying not to lose consciousness, she groggily looked up to see the young black CO Eddie yelling at the asshole that had hit her in the back of the head.

"What the hell did you do!?" Eddie yelled to Tom. "Faith wasn't..."

"Just take her to the, Infirmary." Tom barked out, cutting Eddie off. "I'll deal with the other one."

Tom had gotten too close to what he thought was a sick woman and before Faith passed out she smiled as she heard Tom's welcoming screams as the zombie bit deeply into his neck. If she was going to die now she took sick comfort in knowing that, that bastard would go to hell with her. With a chuckle on her lips, she gave into the darkness.

* * *

Hearing the sounds of running water prompted Faith to open her eyes. As she got up from the cold hard floor she groggily looked around and saw that she was in what looked like a destroyed and long abandoned church. If she didn't know any better she would have believed that she was underground.

There were hundreds of candles burning everywhere and as she sensed someone else in the room, she looked up to the altar and saw someone with their back turned to her by the dim candle light. From what little detail she could make out about his body, he was tall, thin, and had a bald head. Ignoring the urge to find a way out of the room, she was about to speak to the bald headed man, but he spoke first.

"The day has finally arrived." the figure spoke with a superior tone in his voice. "It's a pity that the dead will inherit this realm and not my kind."

'What the fuck is this guy talking about?' Faith thought to herself. 'Did an apocalypse start and nobody told me about it?'

"That's exactly what happened, Slayer." the man replied, reading her thoughts as he turned around.

As she saw his face, she instantly wished that she hadn't. The man... no vampire had a face only a mother... well probably even she couldn't love. His face gave way to the fact that he had to be an elder vampire because it was eternally stuck into the visage of a demon. He had ghastly pale skin and lips that seemed to have a permanent ring of blood caked around them. What was the most overwhelming about his face was his piercing red eyes. Red eyes that seemed to stare through her soul and hypnotize her with their power.

"Who the fuck are you?" Faith asked, trying desperately to move her limbs.

"Who I am isn't important." the age old vampire replied with a sickening smile as he walked towards her with his hands behind his back. "But who you are is. The event that has already happened can't be undone. The powers of darkness have already started to spread like a virus and the world needs a champion."

"Well the world is fucked if they think I'm their champion." Faith replied with a raised eyebrow. "That's Buffy's shtick."

"How little you know of yourself." the demon replied as he lightly caressed her face making the dark Slayer flinch from his touch. There was something about him though that was almost hypnotic that wouldn't allow her to turn from him. "Buffy... hmmm, Buffy can't be of any help to you now."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"This is the end. " The Master said as he smiled a toothy smile and suddenly Faith found herself laying on a cot, the memory of her dream or vision quickly fading away. Groggily opening her eyes, the pain from the hit on her head from earlier subsiding, she saw that she was handcuffed to the bed she was laying on. As she attempted to break out of her apparent bondage, all she did was hurt her wrist as the cuff merely rattled. At that moment she noticed the IV drip in her arm of which she assumed was filled with drugs that relaxed her muscles. For the first time in a long time she was just a normal girl. A normal girl strapped to a hospital bed, yet again.

Hearing a commotion, she looked up to the open door and noticed several people streaming by, yelling as if they were being chased. Wondering what could have gotten everybody in an uproar, she got her answer after a few seconds. A red eyed female zombie suddenly stopped at her door and started to loudly sniff the air. As Faith looked at and recognized the woman to be another female prisoner named Debby, the zombie peered back at her with an unbreakable gaze of hunger.

Knowing that this was going to be the end of her life, Faith smiled darkly, ready to accept what was about to happen next. As the lone zombie ran forward, red drool coming out of her mouth, she was stopped as a bullet suddenly exploded from the back of it's head. Opening her eyes Faith was just in time to see as Debby's body dropped with a thud to the floor. Looking behind where her body lay, she saw the frantic face of the guard Eddie. Lowering his trembling gun hand, he swiftly turned around and closed the door.

"Eddie! Eddie what the hell is going on!?" Faith asked as she struggled against her bonds.

"Faith?" Eddie asked as he turned to look at her. Out of his own fear, he hadn't even noticed her in the room. Hearing heavy footsteps on the other side of the door, his eyes widened as he realized what was coming. "Be quiet." Eddie ordered as he ran and jumped over the other side of the bed.

Deciding to do as she was told, Faith went stiff and closed her eyes. The door then was opened by a soldier, and as he looked around the room he assumed that the room had already been taken care of because of the zombie that laid on the floor dead. "This room is clear!" he yelled over his shoulder. Waiting a few moments, Eddie nervously stood to his feet and headed to the door.

"Wait." Faith called out in a mocked whisper. She didn't want to be too loud as it would have brought the military back. "You can't just leave me here." she said struggling against her bonds. "Eddie please."

Hearing Faith's plea, Eddie closed his eyes for a moment torn on what to do. Teary eyed, he turned back at her and looked at the desperation in her eyes. He had looked into her background when she was transferred to their jail and she was a troubled young woman. Much like he was a troubled young man when he was her age.

When he had done his own stint in jail, he had decided to turn his life around and come back to some of the same institutions that held him and somehow try to make a difference. The thing was someone had given him a chance to improve his life and looking at his counterpart he saw that she had people few and far between in her life that were trying to help her. There was that Angel guy that she would talk about from time to time but no one was here for her here and now.

Steeling his nerve, he closed his eyes once more before running back over to the bed and undoing her cuffs. Carefully taking out the needle that was in her arm, he watched as she sat up in bed.

"Can you walk?" he asked as she moved around unsteadily on her feet.

With an angry glare she snapped out. "I ain't a fucking baby! I'll be..." before she could complete her sentence, her head started to swim and she almost fell to the floor.

Picking her lithe form up in his large arms, Faith dangled almost uselessly in the air. Damn those were some powerful drugs. She thought to herself as they rushed to the door. Taking a deep breath, Eddie opened the door and looked outside. Hearing people in the distance he stepped out, with Faith in hand. Swiftly walking down the hall, they rounded a corner and spotted military personnel holding prisoners and some guards against a wall. Before they knew what was going on, they witnessed the soldiers starting to open fire on them. Heart pounding, Eddie turned around with Faith, his heart nearly beating out of his chest. They had to find a way out of this house of horrors.


	24. Chapter 23 When It All Falls Apart

Chapter 23

When It All Falls Apart

Hearing gunfire behind them, to say that the environment was unsafe was an understatement. It seemed that the standing order for the army patrolmen appeared to be taking everyone out. As Eddie rushed down the hall with Faith in his arms, they couldn't help but notice all of the bullet holes in the walls and all of the dead bodies in the hallway. Hearing screams and the combined footsteps of the army heading their way, they ducked into a room, of whom's doors were marked with a large black x.

"Eddie what the fuck is going on?" Faith asked as quietly as she could as the big man started to barricade the door.

"You been hearing about that flu thing that's been going around?" he asked as he turned to her.

"Yeah." Faith replied as she shook the cobwebs out of her head. The drugs that were pumped into her were slowly wearing off. "Angel told me about that."

"Well when you were knocked out a couple of girls here got it." Eddie said as he wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "One of those girls bit Tom on the neck and... I don't know why but it was ordered on the news by the president that any government agency, jail, or business had to call this number and let them know if anybody had the flu. As soon as the doc told them about those girls..."

"The army came here and started to kill everybody." Faith finished for him.

As she said that his brow furrowed. "How did you..."

"It's horror movie 101." Faith cut him off. Seeing the confused look in his eyes, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Welcome to your first apocalypse."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Eddie asked angrily.

"Eddie this ain't a flu." Faith said as she thought back to her vision. "I didn't think that it would be zombies but..."

"Faith you probably have a concussion or something." Eddie cut her off again. Really worried about her. "I think..."

"I heard voices coming from this room." they both heard someone say loudly on the other side of the door. As one they looked to the door knob and saw it slowly turning. "This door is locked. Bravo team, get over here."

"What the fuck are we going to do?" Faith asked as Eddie started to look around the room. Seeing a huge window at the back of it, he ran over with Faith in tow.

"My car is just at the end of this lot." the big black man said as he pointed to the black Ford mustang in the distance.

"Nice wheels." Faith complemented as he shot her a incredulous look. Now was not the time for that. As he thought that, they heard banging on the door. The soldiers were desperately trying to get in. A decision had to be made.

"It's going to be a hell of a drop but we gotta get out of here." Eddie started as he looked for something that would break the window out.

Looking past him, Faith saw that it would be about a fifteen or twenty foot drop to the ground. "What about the others?"

"We... we can't help them, Faith." Eddie told her sadly as if he were setting the precedence for their journey. Looking at her he saw that she was genuinely disturbed by that fact. "We gotta concentrate on surviving."

Closing her eyes for a second, Faith reopened them before grabbing the bigger man by the waist.

"What the fuck are you..." Before he could complete his sentence the door burst open just as he and Faith jumped through the window, sending shards of glass everywhere. With a girlish scream from Eddie, they landed on a car roof, smashing it in and busting out the windows. Even though Faith took the brunt of the impact, with a wince Eddie jumped to the ground before looking over at his counterpart, still concerned with her well being, even after her display of strength. He would have to ask her about that later. "You OK?" he asked as he cracked his neck.

"Five by five."

As they stood there and groaned for a second, the car they had landed on was suddenly peppered with gunshots. Ducking, as to not get hit by the deadly projectiles, the duo suddenly gave each other a look. Remembering his gun, Eddie brought it up to his side as Faith understood what was coming next. Taking the keys that he offered her, she watched as he stood up and started to fire off a few rounds towards the soldiers who were shooting at them from the above window.

Taking off at a dead run, she cleared the parking lot in less than eight seconds. Opening the door to Eddie's car, she hopped in, fired up the engine and took a hard turn, hitting another vehicle as she backed up. Running out of bullets, Eddie ran for it and hopped into the open passengers side. Not even waiting until he closed his door, Faith took off out of the parking lot as the army started shooting at them again.

* * *

As Faith and Eddie got far enough from prison, they switched seats and they headed for the highway. Quickly opening his glove compartment box, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed 911. With a shake of her head, Faith started to breathe heavily. Her companion just wasn't getting it.

"Due to the unusual volume of calls, your call cannot be completed at this time." a computer generated voice said over the phone. "Please try again later."

"Damn it!" Eddie yelled out in frustration.

Before she could say something to him, they went down a commercial street and saw a sign reading "Now exiting Northern California Women's Facility area. Do not pick up hitchhikers." Deciding to keep quiet, they drove into the provisional commercial district. As they got deeper and deeper they looked around and saw that the city was in shambles. Eddie tried his best to avoid overturned cars and people running for their life. Looking a little further they saw buildings on fire.

Looking to her partner, to gauge his reaction to what they were seeing, Faith watched as his fingers shook wildly as he turned on the car radio. After hearing brief static, they heard the emergency broadcast system, with a convincing but computerized voice like the marine weather report.

"This is the emergency broadcast system for the greater California area." it started. "If you live in Northern California, there are shelters at the following schools. Oak Ridge, Granite Bay, Rocklin, and Mira Loma. If there is no activity where you live, stay inside and lock all doors. This is the emergency broadcast system for..." He tried the dial, mostly the voice was on all channels, with few exceptions. "... in the cities. Stay inside and do not let any - at least forty known incidents in Chicago - three so far. All public events have been -" As he stopped turning the dial, Eddie saw that they were passing the on-ramp for Highway 1. Turning the wheel hard, he made a sharp right turn, squealing his tires, to pull onto the ramp, leaving Faith to wonder where they were going. Before she could ask, a morning drive-time DJ, that sounded like Ryan Seacrest came over the airwaves. "-So if you want to come over and say hi and I hope you do, we're heading over to Camp Pendleton." As the man said that Eddie breathed deeply and for a moment it looked like he and Faith were safe.

"So where are we going?" Faith asked, breaking into his thoughts.

"After we stop and get my wife and my kid, we're headed to Camp Pendleton." Eddie told her, giving her a look.

"Eddie did you hit your head too hard when we landed on that car?" Faith asked as her eyes shot open wide. "The military just tried to kill us. You can't take your family there. That place is going to be a death trap."

"That was... that was just a fluke." He replied trying to rationalize what was happening. "I'm already going to get into trouble by helping you escape prison, so after I get my family we can break ties and you can go where ever you want."

Looking at him as if he had lost his mind, Faith realized that he was suffering from what she called the Sunnydale syndrome. Whenever something supernatural happened, people always wanted to make something rational out of what was happening instead of accepting the truth. She knew that he had seen the zombies, hell he had killed one to save her life. It was time to burst his mental cherry because he was a good man and he deserved the truth. Catching his eye, she cleared her throat and started to tell the story that her first Watcher Diana told her when they first met.

"Eddie there's something that you need to know." she started, as ironically enough a Metallica song started to play over the radio, to add over the chaos of the day. "The world is older then you know..."

Sometime Later

As the black Mustang moved onto Highway 1, Faith looked over at her companion to gauge his reaction to what she had just told him. He was deathly quiet, after he talked to his wife on his cell phone, he didn't look at her again, leaving her to assume that maybe he thought that she was crazy. She didn't know if he believed her or not, but at least he hadn't kicked her out of his car.

The mustang suddenly stopped at a standstill traffic jam, with cars honking. Seeing that they weren't going anywhere, anytime soon, they both got out of the car and saw just how immense the traffic jam was on both sides of the highway, including the shoulders. In the distance they saw a naked woman walking between the cars, just as a man ran past Faith.

"They got my children!" the man yelled with tears in his eyes. "They got my children! They got my children!" She followed him with her eyes and saw a school bus beside her. The back exit doors window of the bus were all steamed up and smeared with blood as an unseen violent struggle took place inside of it.

A face suddenly pressed up against the window on the inside of the bus and a bloody stump pulled it away from the glass. Faith was beyond screaming out and wanting to help, but she had no voice. Sadly she got back into the car.

"Can't you help?" Eddie asked, seeing what she had saw as he got back into the car himself. "I thought that you were the Slayer?"

As he said that, Faith's heart started to beat loudly. Her Slayer instincts wanting to kick into overdrive. But looking around her, she knew that she was too late to save anybody. Suddenly she heard a moaning whistling sound that grew louder as the seconds passed. Getting out of the car again, she looked up into the air and saw a plane on fire and falling from the sky. A plane that was headed their way. Her slayer senses going crazy all she could do was watch as the world literally started to fall apart around her.

A/N The bit about the army killing people will be explained later in the story.


	25. Chapter 24 Angel Hope and Faith

Chapter 24

Angel Hope and Faith

"Get back into the car!" Eddie yelled. Not having to be told twice, Faith did just that.

Taking the car out of neutral Eddie gazed down a very steep, grassy incline by his side, close to fifty degrees, which headed into a small wooded area. He had enough clarity in those precious few seconds to know that the highway was no place to be. Forcing himself to make a decision, he fastened his seat belt and turned sharply, decisively, down the embankment.

The mustang bounced as it slid down the steep slope. Eddie lost control of the wheel, as the car skid across the grass. Seeing that the vehicle was headed towards a tree, Faith suddenly took the wheel and made the car swerve in a different direction completely avoiding the tree.

Stopping the car on a dime, Eddie slumped against the steering wheel as they both heard a titanic boom in the distance. Closing his eyes at the colossal amount of life that was lost and hearing the roar of fire and people screaming in the background, Eddie opened his eyes and looked to the raven haired woman to see his own pain reflected in her face.

"I believe you." he said as he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. He really hated to admit that fact but he knew that Faith possibly could be the only person in the world that could keep him and his family alive. "I believe everything that you said. Tell me what to do?"

As he asked that question, Faith's eyes widened. For the first time in her life someone was looking to her asking what should be done. Clearing her mind of her own doubt, she started to concentrate on what needed to be done. Going back on the highway would be a death trap. After examining her life and knowing that you couldn't go backwards, like Angel always told her, you could only go forward.

"We need to get off of the streets and regroup, yeah?" Faith started as a plan started to form in her head. "Maybe we can go to your house for awhile and see how bad this thing is. We'll go from there."

"Okay." Eddie agreed as his hand hovered over the ignition switch, before giving Faith a look. "You can stay with me and my family as long as it takes and you're free to go after all of this is over. I just want us to be on an even playing field by me saying that I read your file when you were transferred. I know about your past and you seem like you've changed from what you were then, but if you so much as harm my family, I'll kill you."

"Fair enough." Faith replied as she met his gaze. A man had a right to protect his family. Hell he was taking a risk by having her with him now. As he started the car back up and started to take off she looked back in the direction that they had just came. Knowing that she couldn't help any of those people on the highway now she started to gather her thoughts on her next move.

Iron Horse Apartments

It took nearly three hours for Faith and Eddie to reach the latter's home, because the situation in the city was that chaotic and for the fact that Faith had to stop off and change her clothes. To be honest, with all they had seen, they were lucky to have made it at all. The gated apartment building was quiet. A little too quiet as Faith and Eddie pulled up in the mustang.

As Faith watched Eddie get out of the car and reload his gun it was at that moment that she realized she didn't have a weapon. Feet don't fail me now. She thought to herself. Watching his back, they slowly crept around to the other side of the apartment building and saw some people taking things out of some of the homes. Judging by the look on Eddie's face, the men and women were merely looting rather then moving.

"Hey!" Eddie barked out loudly as the looters gave him a look.

"These people are gone man." one of the male looters said with a shrug. "This is a matter of survival."

Eddie hardly thought that it was as he saw that the other man was carrying a new model flat screen tv. Hearing someone calling his name, he and Faith looked up to see a pregnant woman at the very end of the row of apartments.

"Samantha!" Eddie yelled out, forgetting about the looters, as he ran into his wife's arms. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... yeah." his wife replied looking slightly in a daze.

"You can do this family reunion crap later." Faith said harshly as she looked to the sky and saw that the sun was coming down. The streets were mostly quiet but she could still hear distant sirens and a few helicopters. "We really need to get inside."

"Who the hell are you?" Samantha asked through narrowed eyes and gritted teeth.

"She's an old friend of mines babe." Eddie cut his wife off with a lie before she could jump to conclusions. "Her name is Faith."

"Why haven't you ever told me about little miss Faith over..."

"Samantha we don't have time for this." Eddie replied as he moved his wife out of the way and walked into his home, Faith following quickly behind him. "Now where is everybody?"

"Most of our neighbors went to those shelters they were talking about on tv." she answered as she took her eyes off of the other woman and back to her husband. "Hope and I are getting packed now."

"You guys can't go there." Faith interjected. "It's going to be a death trap."

"And who the hell gave you the right to decide what's good for my family?" Samantha whirled on her as Faith and Eddie gave each other a look.

"Daddy!" they heard a little voice yell out. As Faith looked to the hallway of the apartment, her heart almost melted as she saw the cutest little four year old girl with her arms outstretched. Quickly walking over to her, Eddie picked her up and hugged her tightly.

"Daddy's here." Eddie told the girl as he whispered into her curly hair. Turning around he looked to his wife and then to Faith. "I think you two need to have a long talk. Tell her everything you told me, while I go and talk to the manager about closing off the front gate." he said to the Slayer as he walked out of the room with his daughter.

"Daddy, whose that lady?" the girl asked sleepily as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"She's a friend." Eddie told her as they walked into one of the back bedrooms.

As only Faith and the very pregnant Samantha was left alone, the Slayer indicated with her eyes that she wanted the other woman to sit down. For the second time that day, she had to tell the same story over again.

Later That Night

Faith sat on the couch in Eddie's living room, watching TV. She had just told Samantha about the real world of monsters and demons a couple of hours ago and the other woman didn't take it well. In fact she didn't believe her at all until she folded a cast iron skillet up like a burrito, to show her of Slayer strength.

For a moment she laughed as she heard Eddie and Samantha in their bedroom arguing. It seemed that Samantha believed that Eddie was cheating on her. So that's why she's being a bitch. Faith thought darkly to herself with another chuckle. A chuckle that died in her throat as she flicked through the news channels on TV.

Footage of mayhem, tragedy, and zombies on the move. The zombies wreaked havoc in the streets of what looked like New York; others tore apart a TV news room. Various news people and voice overs issued conflicting warnings and reports as she scanned all the channels.

"... The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta does not yet know how this apparent flu virus is being transmitted so quickly." as she said that the TV showed footage of zombies pulling down stands in a Bangladesh bazaar to get to some people. "Officials said they are treating this as both an international health hazard and a military concern."

Faith then flicked the channel to another report. "... may have begun three days ago and is spreading rapidly." Flicking the channel again she saw a press conference with what she believed was a top US scientist. "Next question?"

"Mr. Thomas are they living, or are they dead?" a reporter asked.

"I...I... can't say." Thomas lied as camera bulbs flashed in his face. Annoyed Faith changed the channel. One where a confused reporter was arguing with someone off camera. "What do you mean don't cause a panic? I'm going to read it, yes I am... I am... okay... listen to me. What we keep hearing... it's what it says. This virus is all across the world. If you're home, stay inside and stay tuned."

Flicking the channel yet again, she saw American soldiers shooting at a line of zombies outside of a military base. In the background she heard a reporter saying. "...where they were met by marines that tried to invade Camp Pendleton. So far they have been unarmed..."

Changing the channel for the final time she saw a short blond female politician standing on the rooftop of a building, beneath a helicopter, wind whirling around her. Taking in the scene, she was about to leave a group of reporters behind as she turned to address them.

"I just heard from Washington and it's true that the President and Vice President are dead." the woman said with what seemed to be genuine sadness. "As it stands now, as the Speaker of the House, I am now President and I can assure the American people that this situation should take no more then a few days to control. It's over."

"Yeah right, bitch." Faith mumbled as she shut off the TV. She then thought about how dire the situation was if the entire US and possibly the world would be taken under. At the moment all she could think of was the only person who had never given up on her. She needed guidance. Picking up the phone, she dialed his number from memory and wasn't surprised when Cordelia answered the phone.

"Look, I don't know who this is but..."

"Queen C..." the Dark Slayer cut her off. "It's me."

"Faith?" Cordelia asked after a few moments of stunned silence. After a second her voice was replaced by his.

"Faith?" Angel asked. "Where are you? How..."

"I'm... I'm fine." Faith cut him off. "I had to break out of jail but I'm some place cool."

"Good... good." Angel replied in relief. "I'm happy to hear your voice."

And I'm happy to hear yours. Faith thought to herself, as she curled up on the couch and cradled the phone closer to her ear. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. "Angel I... I need to know what to do?"

"The same thing you've been doing all of your life Faith." Angel told her if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You survive. The world... the world is falling apart around us and you have to help defend it. You were given your power for a reason."

"So... so do you want to meet up somewhere?" she asked hopefully. "Maybe... maybe you, me, and B can get together somewhere and start our own thing?"

"I'd like that..." Angel replied, but Faith could hear a but in his voice. "... but I've tried calling Buffy and I didn't get an answer on her phone. We've been taking in people at our hotel so I can't go and check on her."

"You don't think..." Letting those words die in her throat she changed what she was going to say. She honestly didn't know if she'd ever see Angel again but she had to let him know. "I... um... I just wanted to say thank you for... everything. I mean... I've had people try to give me a chance before but you never gave up on me. I... ummm... I love you man."

Angel didn't say anything for a moment and Faith wondered if he heard her or if she had lost connection. When she had heard Angel speak again, she could have sworn that there was a hint of amusement in his voice. "I love you too, Faith. Take care of yourself."

"You... you too." Faith said nervously. She'd never told anyone that she loved them before and meant it. "Take care of the others and... and tell Wesley I'm sorry."

"I... Hey!" Angel shouted at someone as the phone signal was cut.

"Angel! Angel!" Faith yelled into the phone. But it was no use, so she just hung up the phone. Taking a moment, she sat there stunned, not knowing what to do or say. In the pit of her stomach she wondered if the only person she ever truly cared about had been swallowed up by the new world that was being created. The thought of not seeing Angel again truly haunted her. It haunted her to the point where she did something she hadn't done since she had begged Angel to kill her. She started to cry.

"Why are you crying?" Faith heard a little voice ask. Looking up she saw Eddie's pretty little girl, Hope, wiping sleep out of her eyes and watching her.

"I ain't crying." Faith replied defiantly as she wiped at her tears with both hands. "My eyes were just getting a little wet."

For the most part ignoring her weak excuse, Hope sat on the couch next to Faith and kept asking the most innocent of questions. "Who's Angel?"

As she asked that Faith froze. How could she explain to a four year old what Angel was and what he meant to her. Finding her voice, she looked to the girl and cleared her throat. "Angel... he's.. he's kinda like my bro."

"Your brother?" the little girl asked happily as she got closer to Faith. "I want a brother. I hope my mom has a boy. She said I'm gonna be a big sister."

"I hope your ma has a boy too." Faith replied, being out of her element when talking to kids.

"My mom said something bad is happening out there." the little girl suddenly said as she looked to the living room door to emphasize her point. "I wouldn't want to leave my brother out there by himself. Do you think he's lonely?"

"I... I don't know." Faith mumbled as her mind went back to the older man.

"I like your hair." Hope went on, snapping her out of her thoughts as she reached out and touched her raven locks.

"This old thing?" Faith asked with a sad smile as she touched the other side of her head.

"I hope mine grows out that long." Hope said sleepily as she laid down on Faith's side before finally cuddling up on her and falling asleep. Caught off guard that someone was still so innocent and was able to be so gentle with her the last of the ice around Faith's heart melted.

Pulling the little girl closer and sharing her cover with her, the Dark Slayer, closed her eyes. And I'm going to make sure you live long enough to see your hair grow this long. Faith thought to herself. Right after I go check on Angel. Not wanting to disturb her new friend, she laid back herself and went to sleep. If she would fight for anything in this world now it would be for this little girl and her innocence.


	26. Chapter 25 State of Decay

Chapter 25

State of Decay

Faith woke up with a yawn and feeling slightly refreshed from her talk with her little friend from last night. Frowning she suddenly felt as if she were laying next to a cold body. Her eyes barely focusing, she pulled her shared blanket back and took a look at the kid that lay next to her. She couldn't figure out what it was but something was wrong as she stared at the girls limp body.

Fighting back bile, a beam of sunlight shone on Hope, and Faith saw that the little girl's lips were torn from her face, leaving a toothy death- grin. Her skin was now bluish, a bloody gash also ran along her neck. With wide eyes, Hope opened her mouth and let out a hideous moan.

"What the fuck!" Faith shouted as she stared at the dead eyed girl. "What happened!?"

With one fluid motion, Hope lunged forward and bit into Faith's neck. The Dark Slayer tried to push her off, screaming, but she was too strong and holding tight. The little girl tore flesh from her throat like a wolf.

Jumping up with a start, Faith looked around and saw that she was just having a bad dream. Feeling a small amount of weight on her, she looked down and sighed in relief as she saw Hope sleeping peacefully in her arms. Closing her eyes for a moment, she gingerly laid the girl down on the couch before standing to her feet and stretching.

Smelling something good, she walked through the darkened living room and into the kitchen, which was lit with five big candles. Looking around, Faith saw Samantha making eggs and pancakes on a decent sized, two sided indoor propane stove.

"You want some breakfast?" Samantha asked politely as she spotted Faith. Gone was the bitchy woman from last night.

"Ummm... yeah." Faith replied as she still eyed the woman suspiciously as she again looked around the room at all the stuff they had. "It looks like you guys were well stocked for the apocalypse huh?"

"No." Samantha said glumly as she flipped the last pancake onto a plate. "The power was out when we woke up, so Eddie left early this morning and... well he had to loot the wilderness store close to our house."

"Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do these days." Faith replied with a shrug. "At least Eddie was smart enough to take what you need to survive. I bet everybody else is taking toasters and TV's."

"This isn't going to be something that just lasts a few days is it?" the slightly older woman asked in concern as she put a plate of food in front of the Slayer.

"No." Faith replied as she picked up her fork and started to take a bite of the food. "Not this time."

Perhaps ignoring what she had said or not wanting to know what she meant, Samantha went on. "I umm... wanted to apologize for the way I acted last night. I know I was being a bitch but well you know... a crazy pregnant woman and her hormones."

"We're five by five." Faith replied with another shrug. "I've been treated worse." she mumbled the last part out.

"I know when my husband is lying and I know you two aren't old friends." Samantha decided to throw out there. "He's outside now helping the manager and a few others to fortify this place before things get bad. He won't be back for a couple of hours... so tell me... who are you?"

Wanting to laugh at that question or perhaps run now, Faith decided to heed Angel's warning from last night and to stop running. Letting out a breath, she started to tell the woman her story from the beginning. She told her of her father and mothers alcoholism and abuse, about how rough and violent her childhood was after her father went to prison, and all the horrible things she had seen before she even knew about monsters and demons, up until she went to Sunnydale and then prison.

"Wow." Samantha said at the end of Faith's story. Eddie having caught the end of it as he walked into the room. The younger girl really had it rough and on top of that, she was granted powers to fight against the night. Her life must've really been miserable.

"So you want to go and find this Angel guy?" Eddie asked as he sat down at the table.

"He's the only person in my life that never gave up on me." Faith told him as she stood to her feet. "The least, I can do is check on him. Don't worry... I'll be back to look in on you guys. That is if you want me to come back?"

"I'll leave a spot on the couch for you." Eddie replied with a smile.

Finishing her breakfast, Faith took a shower and was surprised when she had fresh clean clothes waiting on her. They were a size too small, but they would have to do. As she walked into the living room Hope ran into her arms. Picking her up, she saw a backpack and Eddie sitting on the couch.

"I was doing some thinking." Eddie started as he stood to his feet.

"A man that thinks." Faith cut him off with a snort. "This can't be good."

Given the situation outside, Eddie could do more then give her a look. He would have thought that she would've been a little more... serious. But also given the things she had told him about her life... "Look, I was thinking that me, my wife, and Hope can drive you into LA."

"No way." Faith replied, turning serious, as she shook her head and put the little girl back down on the floor. "You guys have got it made here. There's no telling what's out there."

"I knew that you would say that." Eddie said as his daughter ran into his arms. "So how are you going to get there?"

"I saw a Harley dealership not far from here." Faith said considering what to do. "I could go there and steal a bike and be on my way."

"I see that I can't change your mind, so here." Eddie replied as he handed her the backpack that was sitting on the couch.

"What's this?" Faith asked, even as she started to rifle through the bag.

"I thought about you when I went ransacking that sporting goods store." the older man told her with a shrug. "So I put together some supplies you might need. There should be enough food and stuff to get you through about three days."

As he was talking, her hand suddenly hit something metal in the bag. Taking it out, she frowned at the deadly weapon. "I don't do guns."

"Are you serious?" Eddie asked incredulously. "With all that's happening in the world, you better keep that."

Putting the gun back into the bag, she frowned a little. He was right, but still... "Hey is that thing real or a wall hanger?" she suddenly asked as she looked around the room and saw a Katana on the wall. It's black scabbard had a depiction of a golden dragon on it.

"It's real." Eddie told her as she walked over to it and took it off the wall and unsheathed it halfway. She smiled as the blade glistened and showed her reflection. He kept his weapons clean. "I bought it at a swap meet a couple of years ago. It's razor sharp and I used it to cut through some watermelons."

"Do you mind if I used it to cut through a few muffin caps?"

"No, take it."

"I ain't the one for long goodbyes." Faith said as she gathered her things and headed towards the door. "Take care of yourselves and don't let anybody in here."

"Wait!" Samantha said excitedly as she ran into the room. "Are you going alone?"

"Yeah." the Slayer told her.

"Well, I know I don't have a right to ask this but could you look in on my parents?" the young woman asked. "I lost contact with them last night because the phones went down. They're on your way through L.A. and..."

"I'll do it." Faith cut her off. "I gotta check on Angel first but I'll check on em."

"Thank you." Samantha replied with a smile as she wrote down their address, names, and gave her general directions. Taking the note, she stuffed them in her pants pocket and hit the door.

"Bye Miss Faith." Hope said as she ran over to her and hugged her legs.

Her heart breaking, from having to leave her little friend behind, Faith tried not to go misty eyed. "I'll see you later kiddo." the Slayer said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Believe me, I'll be back." As she opened the door, she looked back towards the family, hoping against hope that there would be someone to come back too.

* * *

The city was pretty much as Faith expected. Utter chaos and people stealing things they really didn't even need. Somehow managing to blend into this nightmare, she slipped into the shadows and saw the building that she needed to go to. Looking into the big shop window, she saw a few walkers milling about.

With the grace of a cat, she entered the abandoned shop, making the bell above the door sound off. She was hoping to do this quietly. With a roll of her eyes, she put down her backpack and watched as a walker heard her come in and turn around. Walking forward she kicked him in the chest and sliced his head off with her Katana. She then did the same to two other walkers.

Taking stock of the room, she saw some leather dusters hanging on a rack. Walking over to them, she picked out her size and threw it on. Going further into the store, she saw a few motorcycles and she was honestly about to pick out the first one she saw, until she looked up and saw the one she always wanted.

With a smile on her face, she got on the red and black Sportster, walked it out of the shop, cranked it up and hit the open road. Driving for several hours, she was making decent timing, even though she had to drive past several roadblocks, the army routing people and more than dangerous hot spots. It was getting late and to say that she was tired was an understatement. She had to go somewhere and regroup but where? That's when it hit her. It was the one place she knew that people would never loot.

An Abandoned Library

As Faith started a fire in a barrel she had found, she chuckled to herself as she imagined the looks on Diana, Giles, and Wesley's faces as she took refuge in a library. She hadn't heard from Giles, Wesley, Buffy, or any of the Scooby gang and she wondered how they were fairing at the moment. So many regrets.

Taking her mind off of them, she sat down next to her backpack. She had rummaged through it earlier but she didn't truly take stock of what was inside of it. Opening it up, she started to take out items one by one. She had a solid black, heavy duty maglite flashlight, a first aid kit, several packages of different batteries, a lifestraw, two rolls of toilet paper, some small candles, a zippo lighter, a fire starter, a tiny tool kit, several cans of food, Beef Jerky, two bottles of water, the gun she had handled earlier: along with two clips for it, soap, a toothpaste- toothbrush set, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pack of cigarettes.

Thank you Eddie. Faith thought to herself with a smile.

Deciding to grab the cigarettes for the moment to calm her nerves, she was about to close the backpack, when she noticed a small piece of paper at the bottom. Taking it out, she unfolded it and saw a crude drawing of two stick figures, one with black hair. Reading the bottom of the paper she saw her name and Hope's scribbled at the bottom with a black crayon. Even if it was a short amount of time, that little girl had somehow wormed her way into her heart. A heart that she thought was black now because of all of the horrible things she had done. Closing the paper and putting it in her back pocket, she re vowed this mission in Hope's name. If she would do it for anyone, it would be for her. After a quick smoke and making sure the surrounding area was cool, she made a small pallet on the floor. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

A Day And a Half Later

Faith's beautiful red and black 1995 Harley Davidson Sportster zoomed through the I-5 highway headed towards Los Angeles. Faith now wore some leather pants and a leather duster with her Katana strapped to her back. She thanked whoever was above that she took that workshop when she was in jail, which opened her mind to creating things like the sword carrying bag she had made.

She couldn't help but smile, as the wind blew through her hair and the sun shone on her face. She was free from jail. The smile was short lived and her expression turned downright grim at what she saw ahead of her in the distance.

"God damn." she said as she slowed the bike and then parked it on the side of the highway.

Skyscrapers loomed like silent tombstones, several of them just charred husks. They had to have caught on fire a few days ago, because that's when she had heard about the riots and the dead walking. Or maybe the military had dropped bombs on the city to keep the infection down, like they did in the movies. She couldn't tell from the distance she was now, but some of them looked to be still burning.

Looking straight ahead on the freeway, the lanes going into the city were nearly full, but the lanes heading out were choked with thousands of abandoned cars, trucks, and SUVs. Starting her bike back up, she drove by and observed many wrecks.

Car doors were left hanging open, fenders were crumpled, and windshields were smashed. But what was more sickening were all the dead bodies left to rot in their vehicles. It was the result of everybody trying to leave at once and others just being barbaric. Some ran out of gas, others lost their lives to accidents, but riding by some of the cars she saw that some had been shot up or looked as if their bodies had been gnawed on. It was an endless river of metal and dead people.

Having seen enough, she drove on. She had to find Angel.

Coming off of the highway, Faith rode slowly down a major street. Windows were broken out of buildings and the road was littered with vehicles, some over turned and trash slowly billowing in the wind. The motorcycle swerved back and forth through the objects, the Hyperion Hotel slowly coming into view.

Corpses laid out openly on the street. Eaten. She had seen tons of dead demons and had even killed a couple of people herself,, but this was insane. These people were slaughtered out on the street with no police or paramedics to help them. From the looks of them they had been outside, baking in the hot Los Angeles sun for days.

As she continued to ride forward, figures appeared here and there. Zombies. They peered out of broken windows, straggled out of office doorways, one even emerged out of a burned out bus.

Knowing that she could release them of their pain of hunger, if only for a moment they started to follow her. Deciding since it was only a hand full of them, she revved her engine, gave the Harley some gas and easily out-distanced them.

Suddenly she heard someone yelling. It was distant and who ever it was voice came and went almost teasingly. Stopping for a second, she used her Slayer hearing to listen over the sound of her bike. Whoever was yelling was silent now.

Deciding that maybe she was just hearing things, she was just about to give her bike some gas when she heard the yell again. Trying to track the sound, as it echoed and bounced off buildings, she figured out where it was coming from. The Hyperion.

Revving the bike again she took off in that direction and turned a corner. That's when she knew that she had made two horror movie dont's. Don't ever come into a big city after an outbreak and if you had too never come on something that made a lot of noise.

Stopping the bike on a dime and making it turn halfway, cold fear slammed through her as she saw that the streets were filled with walkers. Not just a few like before, but there was dozens of them.

Hearing the noise of the bike, the walkers turned their dead greedy eyes to her. Without dramatic fanfare the mass of the dead surged towards her.

"Fuck!" Faith yelled out as she wheeled the bike around and took off like a shot.

But to her dismay the dead were surging from that direction too. Trying not to panic she reared the bike to try to go the other way. Nearly being thrown off in the process, she held on and started to plow through them.

The walkers grabbed and clawed at her and with surprising strength from them, she was thrown off of her bike. She landed hard on the pavement, the wind being knocked out of her. Managing to recover quickly, she stood up, put on her backpack, and unsheathed her sword. Looking around herself, she smiled darkly as she saw that she was surrounded.

Raising her arms to take a swipe at her would be attacker, a bright light suddenly shimmered in front of her. "What the fuck." Faith whispered as a girl materialized into view. She was wearing a black ninja/catsuit, she had short cropped blond hair, a dangerous look in her eyes, and freckles on her face.

"You trying to get yourself killed?" the girl asked as she took a pair of sai's out of her leg sheathes and started to stab some zombies in the head.

Snapping out of her stupor, Faith did an almost ballerina like spin and chopped off the heads of three zombies at once. As they started to dispatch the freshly dead ghouls, more and more of them seemed to come out of the few shadows that the day provided.

"We gotta get out of here and now." the once invisible girl said as she and Faith went back to back, their weapons up and dripping with blood and gore.

Looking up once more, Faith saw that they had already cut a bloody path towards where she wanted to go all along. "Follow me!" Faith shouted, so her companion could hear her. Stabbing a zombie in the chest with her sword, Faith managed to flip it over her head and throw it into several others, causing them to fall to the ground.

Giving the Slayer a look of surprise of her own, at the sight of her strength, the girl that could go invisible followed Faith to the Hyperion hotel.


	27. Chapter 26 The Harsh Light of Day

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys.

Chapter 26

The Harsh Light of Day

AKA

Borrowed Souls

Broken glass crunched underneath Faith's Doc Martens as she and her companion entered into the lobby of the Hyperion. The place was a mess, with overturned furniture and blood that covered the floor.

"Oh man." Faith whispered as she walked further into the room.

"Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh dear..." she heard a British voice mumbling over and over again. Looking behind the front desk, she saw a dark haired man standing over a females body.

"Wes...?" as Faith asked that, the English man turned in a fury, with his bloody dagger out. "Hey... hey Wes relax it's me!"

Breathing heavily and dagger still up in the air, Wes stared at her for a moment before he could finally register who she was. "Faith...?"

"Yeah." Faith replied as she squatted down next to him and with a gentle hand laid down his arm. Looking over his shoulder, she saw that the woman he was hovering over was Cordelia. "Wes what the fuck happened?"

"She... she was bitten." Wesley replied as he dropped the dagger to the floor and started to weep. "She... she was right. We should have never taken people into this hotel who sought refuge. One of them was infected and they bit her. I... I had too..."

"It's... it's okay, Wes." Faith cut him off sadly. "Where's Angel?"

"He's... he's up in his room." Wesley told her, giving the Dark Slayer a look. "He's rather not feeling well."

Turning back to the girl that had possibly saved her life, they both shared a look. With her eyes, the girl let Faith know that she would watch over her friend as she took care of business. Giving one final look to Wesley, Faith shot up the stairs. Finding the room 217, she slowly opened the door and her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

The vampire with a soul was already pale before, but he was beyond that now. He looked very sickly with black veins covering his skin. Gone was the powerful man she once knew. He was replaced by a sickly vampire that looked like he didn't have much time left.

"An... Angel?" Faith asked in a calmer voice then she thought she would have.

"Faith..." Angel grumbled out in a voice that didn't sound like his. It was just so gravely. " ..how did... how did you get here?"

"I stole a motorcycle." she replied with a shrug as she walked closer to him. Her heart was breaking in two. "Angel... Angel what happened?"

As the vampire slowly and weakly started to relate his story, Faith learned that everything turned. At least she was proud of him for defending Cordelia and she even made a promise that she would help find Gunn and Fred, the two people that managed to escape.

Her mentor going into a coughing fit, Faith reached over to his nightstand and poured him a glass of water. Tilting his head up, so he could take a few sips, she laid him back down and watched as he gave her a sad smile.

"You remind... you remind me so much of me little sister Kathy." Angel said as his voice slipped back into it's Irish speech. He was really far gone now. "She was so young, rebellious, and beautiful. I... I miss her."

"You're going to join her soon." Faith whispered, barely able to contain herself, as she tightened her grip on her stake.

Looking into her mentors eyes, Faith could tell that he wanted to part so much wisdom to her in his final moments but because of all of the pain he was enduring, he couldn't. It was a pain that only she could end. She had too. She owed him that much.

With one final glance at Faith, Angel was glad that it was her. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Faith repeated, unbeknownst to her that a light passed from the vampire with a soul to her, as she stabbed Angel in the heart. For a moment, before he crumbled into dust Faith could have sworn that he looked normal. Not wanting to tarnish that memory, she collected herself and stood to her feet. Looking on his dresser, she saw a little notepad titled sketch book and pocketed it.

Doing something she rarely ever did, Faith said a quick prayer before turning around and walking out of the room for the last time. As she went down into the lobby, she saw the ninja chick still standing guard over Wesley, who was currently still on the floor crying his eyes out.

"Well...?" the girl asked as Faith came fully into the room. At the raven haired woman's dark look, she knew that the situation was grim.

"Let's get the fuck out of here." Faith mumbled as she moved past the other woman and put a soft hand on her former Watcher's shoulder. It saddened her that he jumped at her touch because she didn't know if he was still afraid of her, afraid of their current situation, or both. "Wes... Wes we gotta leave."

"What about... what about Cordelia?" Wesley asked nervously as they both looked down to her still form. The two of them didn't exactly get along but it still made the Dark Slayer angry that the Seer's life was extinguished at such a young age.

"Cordelia is gone, Wes." Faith said as softly as possible as she squeezed his shoulder. "That's... that's just a shell now."

"Hey whatever we do, we better do it now." the blond ninja spoke up as she heard milling about from the broken doors in the front of the building. Looking back they saw the first signs of a few zombies slowly shuffling into the building. "What's the plan?" as she asked that both of them looked to Faith.

Great, they want me to be the leader. The raven haired goddess thought to herself.

Perhaps seeing her deer in a headlights look, Wesley cleared his throat. "I don't know how you two got here but I have a van in the back alley of the hotel."

So I have to leave my bike behind. Faith thought with a roll of her eyes.

"I'll go and get your bike while you two get to the van." the ninja spoke up as she turned her back to them. "We'll meet up at the Davenport hotel."

"Hey!" Faith called out to her. "What's your name?"

"Marcie." the woman replied as she turned invisible and presumably walked out of the room.

"Wes, come on." Faith warned as a few zombies lurched into the room.

"But... but my books." Wesley said as he looked around at the room and all of the stuff he would be leaving behind.

"Your books ain't gonna be worth shit if you're dead." she replied as she yanked him to his feet. "Now come on!"

Grabbing a few books anyway, Wesley ran up behind her and out of the building. As soon as Faith saw daylight, the white light from before suddenly shot out of her mouth and went into the air. Shaking the haze out of her mind, she got into the van with Wesley. Driving for a couple of hours and seeing so much chaos, they had finally reached the Davenport hotel. Seeing Faith's motorcycle parked down an alley, Wesley parked beside it.

"It's about time you guys got here." Marcie said as she materialized behind them, making the duo jump.

"Will you stop doing that." Faith said as her heartbeat started to come down to normal.

"Come on." Marcie said as she took a look around and heard gunfire in the distance. It was a scary thought but those sounds were few and far between now. "We need to get off of the streets."

With that said she led them towards the abandoned hotel. The trio then nervously walked through the smashed glass doors of the lobby area. It was extremely dark inside and remembering the contents of her bag, Faith pulled out and switched on her mag-lite which illuminated the entrance hall. It was an utter mess. The floor was covered in broken glass and dried blood.

Seeing what they were looking at, Marcie just shrugged. "I helped to clear this place out myself when everything went to shit."

Nodding her head, Faith and Wesley kept looking around. The elevator doors were jammed open, and inside was a dense bundle of rags - perhaps an old corpse, but impossible to tell, because the interior of the lift had been torched. It was black with carbon, and smoke-scarring ran up the outside wall. Moving from the gruesome sight Faith shone the flashlight to the stairwell.

There was a huge tangle of shopping carts running up the stairs. Impressed Wesley gave one of the baskets an exploratory tug. It shifted, but held fast, meshed in with its neighbor. He then put a foot into one of the grates, and lifted himself up. Taking Faith's flashlight he looked over the top of the tangle, and saw a gap along the top.

"We have to go through there to get to my room." Marcie informed them.

"Let's just hope that we don't have to get out of here in a hurry." Wesley said as he gave the women a look. Taking a breath, he began to climb through.

Following his lead Marcie and Faith moved steadily and quietly up the stairwell, into the building. Reaching the next landing, Marcie took the lead as they checked around the corner before proceeding. Through a broken window, they could see that they were already high above most of the neighboring buildings, and on the wall a sign read LEVEL 5.

Suddenly there was a loud scream, coming from somewhere lower down the building. The noise made Wesley's back go stiff, even as Faith and Marcie both made a grab for their weapons.

"Please not again." Wesley mumbled lowly to himself.

"Quiet." the Slayer said as she put up a hand and closed her eyes to concentrate.

The scream quickly came again. The noise was chilling, echoing up the empty stairwell. But there was something strange about it. The noise was demon, but oddly autistic. It was held for slightly too long, and stopped abruptly.

It was an infected , the sound of metal scraping, clattering the blockade.

"They're in!" Marcie shouted as she looked down the stairwell. It was well over half a dozen demons of all shapes and sizes. Looking up they saw Faith and the others and after registering them as food, started to move with amazing speed over the blockade.

"Fuck!" Faith shouted as they all sprinted up the stairs. Behind them, they could hear the Infected, giving chase, suddenly passed level eight, nine, ten...Wesley, not being in good shape, was exhausted.

"Come on!" Faith shouted back to him.

"I can't." the ex-Watcher replied out of breath, barely able to speak.

"We're almost there." Marcie told them. "Keep moving."

Not being able to wait for him Faith continued, as Wes looked over the edge of the stairwell, to the landing below...where some of the Infected appeared, tearing around the corner.

In mid stride Faith sprinted up the stairs... and stood in amazement as Wesley ran past her, in an amazing burst of energy and rounded another bend in the stairwell...then all three of them stopped in their tracks. Standing directly in front of them was a familiar blond figure in Riot Cop Gear - gloves, a riot shield in one hand, and a very sharp spear in the other.

Kate Lockley lunged past them, barging past, where the first infected demon had appeared and with a grunt Kate swung the spear and connected viciously with the demons head. As the horned demon fell backwards, it collided with the demon behind it.

As both of them fell back down the stairs, the beautiful blond cop looked back to them. "A little help would be nice."

Pulling up his shotgun, Wesley flattened the head of their next would be attacker. Going invisible; Marcie used her sai's to cut through the heads of two other demons. Being the last one left, Faith took out a dagger and threw it into the head of the last demon standing. Breathing a collective sigh of relief, the gang followed Marcie into her hotel room. There was so much they had to talk about.

The flat had two adjourning bedrooms and was on the very top floor. It had patterned wallpaper, and nice but boring furnishings. It was lit by entrance hall leading straight to the living room, which had French windows and a small balcony outside.

Following Kate into the living room, Marcie shut the front door, which had an impressive arrangement of locks and dead-bolts.

With a grunt, Kate laid down the riot shield. Then she put the blood smeared spear on a small white towel. Next, she removed her gloves and placed them beside the bar on the towel, before folding the towel over the weapon and gloves, and putting it beside the riot shield.

"Nice digs you got here Kate." Faith said diplomatically as she looked at the messy room, with all of the books around.

"Wait you two know each other?" Marcie asked as she looked between them.

"Yeah." the Slayer replied with a smirk as she shot a thumb towards Kate. "Jenny law over here is the one who finally caught the big one." Kate didn't actually catch her, rather she turned herself in. As she said that Faith looked at the two women. Talk about an odd couple. "Wait, what about you two? And for the record who are you anyway?" she asked of Marcie.

"It seems we all have a lot of explaining to do." Wesley spoke up as they all looked to him.

Deciding now was as good a time as any to drink, Faith pulled the bottle of whiskey out of her bag. With a smile, Kate went into the kitchen and got four glasses as they all sat down on the floor in a loose circle so they could tell their story.

The "invisible girl" Marcie turned out to be born and raised in Sunnydale. All of her life she was ignored and as a teen, by the power of the very active Hellmouth she was able to turn invisible. After a run in with Buffy, she was taken by the FBI and taught how to master her ability and become an assassin for the government. She was actually on a mission in LA, for a group she refused to name, before everything hit the fan.

The group already knew about Kate, so she told them that in the last few days before everything fell apart, her precincts Captain had finally authorized a special division for the supernatural. Her first case was to investigate the murders of a few citizens with seedy pasts, that were killed out in the open in broad daylight. The only reason the case was deemed supernatural was because a few witnesses stepped forward and said that they heard someone talking but couldn't see anybody around.

As she went to a crime scene, she noticed a woman that shouldn't be there. Going to ask her why she was at the crime scene, she literally disappeared in front of her. If it wasn't for Marcie walking in some blood, making foot prints Kate would have never caught her. Interrupting her story, Marcie claimed that she let Kate catch her in the first place, leading them to have a brief argument. Looking between the two, Faith saw that they were being playful with one another, and this was an ongoing game amongst them.

Continuing the story, Kate told them of how she and Marcie had to fight their way out of jail and through a city of madness until they ended up at this hotel of which Marcie was staying until she completed her mission. As the people staying at the hotel started to either go crazy, turn, or leave, Marcie convinced Kate to stay and help clear out this place and to help fortify it, rather then go with the others to those shelters because they would have been slaughtered.

Since they couldn't go to the local supermarket for supplies anymore, on the account of some stupid looters burning it down, Marcie had to go deeper and deeper into the city. Having a random thought one day, Kate decided to have the invisible girl check for supplies and for Angel.

"I'm sorry to tell ya but Angel ain't coming." Faith now interrupted her story.

"Why, what..." seeing the lost look in Faith's eyes, Kate stopped talking. "It's ummm... It's been a stressful day for all of us. Let's get some sleep and we can go and gather some supplies tomorrow."

"I... I have some supplies in my van." Wesley spoke up. "Gunn, Fred, Cordelia, and I were going to use it to flee LA but all of them are... I'll go down and get the food and water in the morning. Judging by the four of us, it should be enough to keep us going for three or four days."

"Good... that's good." Kate said as she gave the man a look. He looked so tired. After showing them where they could settle in, everyone went to sleep. All except one person.

Not being able to rest, Faith reached into her backpack and took out a sheet of paper, before heading to the balcony. As she opened the french windows, she looked out into the distance and saw as a red sun peeked warily over the horizon. The bright overhead sun bleached the streets and a light wind drifted litter and refuse. Cars lay abandoned, shops looted. Aside from a quiet rush of wind, there was silence. No traffic, no engines, no movement. Not even birdsong.

What once should have been a beautiful view over LA was now nothing but chaos. Low clouds caught the sunrise, and a plume of smoke still drifted up from some burnt down shops.

God what a week. Faith thought to herself as she opened the folded sheet of paper and smiled at the crude drawing Hope had made of them both. It was the only possession she owned that was of value. Having a stray thought, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out Angel's sketch book. Flipping through it she wasn't surprised to find that on the first page that he had sketched Buffy. With a snort she flipped the page and saw a picture of herself and she just had to say that Angel was truly a gifted artist. The picture was simply beautiful and to her she looked even better in the picture then in real life. But that's how Angel viewed her. As being nothing but pure beauty.

"You can't sleep either huh?" a voice asked, making her jump. In times like this she had to remember not to let down her guard. Pocketing the picture, she turned to face Marcie. "Whoa take a chill pill." Marcie said as she sat her year book on the railing and started to flip through it's pages.

Looking over her shoulder, Faith saw all of the have a nice summer's written in the book. God she really wasn't noticed in school.

"Do you think it's morbid of me to have kept this?" Marcie suddenly asked. At Faith's confused look, she added. "This is the only thing from my old life that I kept and to look at it now, I can't help but to think that all of these people are probably dead now."

"Hey, a girl has to have a hobby." Faith replied with a shrug as she pulled out a cigarette. Bumming one off of her the two girls started to smoke as they shifted into an awkward silence. Taking another look at Marcie's year book, Faith cleared her throat. "You know, I know what it's like. You think you matter, you think you're a part of something, and you get dumped. It's like the world's still moving, but you're stuck. Like those animals in the tar pits. You're sinking a little deeper every day, and nobody even sees!"

"I'm... I'm glad somebody else knows how I feel." Marcie mumbled as she wondered how the other invisible people she had met in assassins class were holding up. "What do you think we should do? I've been telling Kate for awhile that we need to get the fuck out of here and out of this city but she doesn't wanna budge."

After a few moments of thinking Faith finally had to ask. "Why are you staying behind?"

"Where am I going to go?" Marcie asked after a moment. All of her life she had felt as though she was alone, but now that the end had come she didn't want to walk out into the darkness by herself.

"A man wiser than us helped me through a crisis of conscience once." Kate spoke up as she suddenly appeared at the door. She had heard everything. "He said to me... And I'm paraphrasing here... "In the greater scheme, or the bigger picture, nothing we do matters. There's no grand plan, no big win. If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. Because that's all there is."

That had to had come from Angel. Faith thought to herself. Letting what the older woman had said sink in, Faith made her decision. If Angel had and no pun intended, had Faith in her to lead then she would lead. "When Wesley get's up we're going to pack up as much shit as we can and get the fuck out of here."

"Where are we going to go?" Kate asked as she dropped her guard. She didn't want to say anything, but perhaps she was looking for someone to lead her somewhere the whole time. At least it was someone that knew more than her about the supernatural.

Turning her back to them, Faith looked over the edge of the building again and took out Hope's picture before she spoke. "I know a small place out of the city where we can crash for awhile but first we have to stop off somewhere."

A plan finally forming the three women finally went back to bed and drifted off into a restless sleep. Feeling someone standing over him, Wesley opened his eyes and saw someone he thought was dead.

"Cordelia?" he whispered as he stared up at her in awe.

On The Other Side of L.A.

At The Same time

A group of vampires sat around a fire barrel and warmed their hands in an abandoned warehouse. Since they were dead and their blood ran cold, it wasn't like they really needed to keep warm in the first place, but it was more out of habit since they were merely fledgling vampires.

They had just scored a couple of humans and had feasted on their blood. They had to savor the taste of the tangy red liquid, because it was getting harder and harder to come by because of all of the zombies that were around now. Talk about stiff competition.

As they talked about moving on to a new city, the white light that had shot out of Faith's mouth earlier that day suddenly came into the room. Even though it was very bright, none of them saw as it shot into their sire. With a jolt, the ditsy blond's eyes popped open and she jumped off of the floor.

"Hey boss..." one of the male vampires said as he looked over at her worriedly. "... you okay?"

Not answering his question, she looked down at her hands and saw that they were covered in blood. The blood of the innocent. Glancing to the floor, she saw the couple that they had just brutally murdered moments ago, slumped over on the floor. If her heart could beat it would've broken her chest, because of all of the guilt she felt at the moment.

Getting the feeling that she was being watched, she looked back up and saw the three minions, that she had sired a couple of days ago, silently watching her. She didn't know why but at that moment she was being consumed by another feeling. Cold hatred.

Vamping out, she punched a wooden crate and grabbed one of the shards that fell on the floor.

"Boss what are you..." that was all he got to say as in a blur she appeared in front of him and stabbed him in the heart. Not watching as he crumbled into dust, she moved on to the other girl in the room and kicked her in the stomach.

Seeing the third one trying to flee from a window, she used her vampiric speed, to run up behind him. Using all of her strength, she reached behind him and twisted his head until it came off of his shoulders and he crumbled into dust in her arms.

"Wh... why?" the red headed vampiress wheezed out as she looked at her sire, from her position on the floor. Again not speaking, the blond slowly strolled over to her childe and flipped her over before stabbing her in the heart.

Chest rising and falling rapidly, with unnecessary breaths, the vampiress walked to the window and looked out into the night. It seemed that there was a new vampire with a soul in town. Even if that soul was a borrowed one.


	28. Chapter 27 What Awaits Us

A/N Thanks for those reviews guys keep them coming.

Chapter 27

What Awaits Us

Two Days Later

Kate pulled the groups van down a modest red-brick street with semi-detached houses. Faith had left her motorcycle a block over, to cut down on the noise that it would create in the small neighborhood. As all of them got out of the van Wesley and Marcie waited while Kate and Faith scanned the dark facade with their flashlights.

There were a few things overturned and out of place in the neighborhood, but other then that everything seemed quiet. Getting closer and closer to the house, that they had finally arrived at Faith and Kate lagged behind to make sure they didn't get attacked.

Remembering what the Slayer had told him earlier, Wes used the key under a flowerpot to open the back door. The team then moved quietly through the kitchen and the downstairs of the house.

Surprisingly, everything was neat and tidy. Washed plates were stacked by the sink, and newspapers were on the table, neatly piled. Walking by it, Marcie scanned the headline on the top paper and it simply read: CONTAINMENT FAILS. Still moving, they reached the bottom of the stairs in the living room.

Taking the lead, Kate brought out her gun, got into position and looked towards the others. "Mr. and Mrs. Jones." she started. "My name is Kate Lockley and I'm with the LAPD. We were told to come here by your daughter Samantha to check in on you."

Not hearing anything back, she gestured upward, and Marcie nodded, letting her know she had her back, as they started to ascend.

At the top of the stairs, Faith sniffed the air, and recoiled. By now the others had noticed the smell too. As they got closer to what they assumed was a bedroom door, their eyes widened in alarm as they came to the conclusion that maybe it was too late.

"Wait." Kate whispered, but Faith pushed past her and advanced along the top landing, until she reached the door. By now the smell was so bad that she was having to cover her nose and mouth with the sleeve of one arm. With the other, she unsheathed her katana after pushing open the door.

Inside, two decomposed bodies laid side by side on the bed, intertwined. On the bedside table was an empty bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of red wine. They were too late. Seeing a letter and a photo album on the foot of the bed, Faith kept an eye on the two cold bodies before snatching up the letter/album and walking out of the room, bumping into Wesley as she did. Taking out her cellphone, she cut it on and watched as the screen said, searching for network. The screen blinked a few times before going black. With a curse she walked down the hallway.

As Wesley walked into the room, he stared at the still bodies for a couple of moments, before he noticed that they didn't turn. Maybe there was something to the rumors that the virus was spread through vaccination shots, that he was sure that Mr. and Mrs. Jones probably didn't take.

"Tell me something honey buns." a voice suddenly said from behind him. "Do you think this is strangely poetic or just plain ole sad that these two love birds died in each others arms?"

Turning, Wesley saw that it was the green skinned, loud yellow suit wearing demon Lorne the Host, from the demon bar Carita's. Looking at Kate and Marcie, who were still by the door, he saw that they didn't see him.

"Because, I for one think it's a little of both." Lorne continued.

"What are you doing here?" Wesley whispered as Marcie and Kate walked away and down the hall, perhaps to get away from the smell. First Cordelia and now him. At least he spoke to me. Cordelia didn't say a word, she just... looked at me in disappointment.

"I'm just here to let you know that this is the future that awaits you." Lorne told him with a frown that quickly turned into a smile. "And to sing this song to send these two star crossed lovers souls home." As he said that Wesley turned around and walked out of the door as Lorne started to beautifully sing Mahalia Jackson's trouble of the world.

Trying to compose himself, Wesley broke down and started to cry as he walked into the kitchen, Lorne's voice still echoing throughout the house.

"It's a sad scene ain't it?" Marcie asked of him as she hopped up on the kitchen counter. Wiping at his eyes, he looked at her and saw the grim expression on her face. "Seeing something like that makes me happy I wasn't that close with my folks you know?"

"The feeling is mutual." Wes replied as he sat down at the table and put his face in his hands. He would miss his mother and his older brother though. His problems were mostly with his father and for the fact that his mother never protected him from the older man's abuse.

"So what are we going to do now?" Kate asked as she walked into the room. She was expecting a rescue mission. Not this.

"We stay here." Faith said as she walked into the room and sat next to her old Watcher.

"What!" Marcie shouted. "I ain't staying in here with a bunch of dead folks."

"We are tonight." the Slayer replied with a raised eyebrow. "Unless you plan on staying out in the hot box." she said referring to their van.

"Look, we can all sleep downstairs." Kate added. "Their bedroom door pretty much sealed in the smell so we'll be okay."

The gang sat in the living room, on two different sofas. Kate cleaned one of her guns, while Faith flipped through the family photo album. From the pictures she was seeing it was a life she wished that she had. Samantha and her family seemed so close. Wesley looked dazed, uncomprehending, while Marcie watched him, her expression neutral.

"They died peacefully you know." she spoke up, cutting through his thoughts. "I know all the stuff you saw out in LA, because I was there too. People were trampling over each other and killing one another to get out of the city. You should be grateful that they died as peacefully as they did."

"I am grateful." Wesley spoke up after a few moments. "I just wonder if our ends will come so peacefully." his words hung in the air and the girls stopped what they were doing to look at him. With a smile, Lorne stood by the doorway of the room before disappearing.

* * *

The red orb of the sun went down; the light fading. As night fell, California vanished into blackness, with little to no electric light to be seen from the city. Then the moon appeared from behind the cloud layer, and the dark city was revealed.

Wesley laid on the sofa, in the moonlight, with his eyes still open, wide awake. Faith was curled up on the other sofa, while Marcie and Kate were on the floor, asleep. The house was silent and rolling over he watched Faith sleeping for a couple of moments. She was the perfect combination of beauty and being a predator, but he couldn't help but to think that she was a caged animal. She wasn't as wild as she was in Sunnydale or when she tortured... Without another thought he quietly got off the sofa and walked out of the living room, down the hall and into the kitchen.

Looking around the room, he saw an old faded kid's drawing on the wall, framed. The Jones' really loved their daughter. He thought to himself. Above the counter, on a shelf of cookery books, an album had a handwritten label on the spine: "Sylvia's Favorite Recipes". Seeing that the power was still on and not turned off like most of the city, he walked to the fridge.

Opening it, he saw various forms of food and thankfully most of it wasn't spoiled. Deciding to grab the milk, he went to the cupboard, grabbed some Cornflakes and made himself some cereal. Sitting down, he watched as the others started to pile into the room.

"You couldn't sleep?" Kate asked with a yawn as she sat down across from him and poured herself some cereal as well.

"No." Wes said simply. "You?"

"It's strange that I kept having this same strange dream." Kate said as she took a bite of cereal and watched as the others sat down next to her. "I... I kept seeing my dad and then I saw my mom?"

"What?" Marcie asked as she and Faith became fully alert. "I had a dream about my folks."

"And I had one about my pa." Faith whispered to herself. This was beyond strange. "I ain't in the mood for cereal." she said changing the subject. "Wes, see what else they have in the fridge."

"Yes dear." Wesley mocked as he went to the fridge again.

"Hey, see if they have eggs and some onions." Kate spoke up. "I'll make us some of my world famous omelets." as she said that her thoughts went to her father. When she was younger and after her mother died, she would make them for him all the time. It was the only thing that seemed to make him happy because he said that it reminded him of her mother. Shaking those thoughts out of her head, she thought about how sad it was that they were eating in the house of people who had just died and were still currently upstairs. She had to remember though that in the times they were in now that they had to get used to these types of things.

For a moment Wesley pondered if he should tell the others about the visions he kept having of Lorne and Cordelia. Seeing a photo of Samantha and her parents, he touched their faces and started to remember the friends he had lost and he wondered if Gunn and Fred had made it. As he started to gather some food, he was faced away from the back door, which had a large frosted-glass panel.

Through the glass panel, unseen by Wesley or the others, was a dark silhouette looming against the diffused glow from the the kitchen window, a second silhouette appeared. Feeling a demonic presence, Faith's head snapped up as there was a scratching noise from the back door. Wesley froze and slowly, he turned his head and saw the dark shapes behind the door and window

A beat, then the door was abruptly and powerfully smashed in. It flew open and hung loosely, held only by the bottom hinge. Standing in the door frame was an infected black horned demon. Wesley shouted with alarm to the others to grab their things as the demon lunged at him sending them both tumbling to the floor. At the same moment, the figure behind the kitchen window smashed the glass, and an infected teenage boy started to clamber through the jagged frame.

The demon got on top of Wesley, while he used his arms to hold back the ferocious assault. A single strand of saliva flew from the demon's lips, and contacted his cheek. Suddenly, Faith was there, holding a spoon. Using all the strength in her arm, she threw the unlikely weapon, and watched as it embedded itself into the demons skull.

As blood gushed out of it's head, Wesley used the distraction to roll the infected thing off of him. Standing to his feet, he grabbed a knife and more efficiently dispatched of the demon. Looking up, he was just in time to see...Marcie dispatch of the boy half way through the kitchen window. Another zombie was holding onto Kate, but it's legs were caught on the broken glass. Kate jabbed upwards into the things head and watched as it stiffened, then slumped, and as Kate stepped back the others saw the knife she was holding.

Everyone suddenly looked to Faith on what to do and they saw that she was hyperventilating and staring at a corpse on the kitchen floor. Faith then turned to her old Watcher and saw that he was hyperventilating too, but there was control and steel in his voice.

"Faith, Kate, gather our things." he started as he looked at both of them in turn. "Marcie help me gather anything useful. We leave in five."

With practiced speed, Marcie started to open the kitchen cupboards, selecting bags and cans from the shelves, and began stuffing them into her backpack. Wesley stood beside her and did the same as the others went into the other room. They had gotten too complacent and had almost died because of it. Whatever the case more infected would be coming. They always did.

Gathering everything they could, they hit the door, Faith and Kate taking the lead as they did. Scanning their surroundings, as the early morning sun started to beat down on them, they saw zombies and demons coming out of the wood works. The entire small neighborhood was infected. Making it to their van, they threw their gear in and practically piled on top of one another. Starting up the vehicle, Kate drove them out of this death trap and out the this neighborhood of the dead.

As they drove away and into the distance, Cordelia appeared at the front door of the Jones' house and smiled. Things were coming together better then she thought they would. Soon they would all be in position to fulfill their destinies. They just needed a little push, even if it would cause them to take a walk on the wild side.


	29. Chapter 28 Who Watches The Watchers

Chapter 28

Who Watches The Watchers

Faith, Kate, Marcie, and Wesley sat in the latter's van taking a long hard look at the CVS pharmacy, of which parking lot they were currently sitting in. From what little they could see so far the place looked normal, besides the random trash and debris that floated around. Tapping on the steering wheel, Kate looked back to the others.

"It's time." Kate spoke up. "We go in, get medical supplies and scavenge what we can and get out."

With a nod of their heads, the gang gathered their weapons and slowly walked to the door. Looking through the window of the darkened store, no one saw anything stirring. Moving forward, Faith used her Slayer strength to open up the automatic doors.

As the team moved in and took a look around, they saw that the place was only lightly torn through. It was as if someone did some light looting, possibly some employees. Moving on from that fact the foursome quickly grabbed some hand baskets and went in different directions.

Knowing that being outside now meant that he could lose his glasses, Wesley decided to make a trip over to the optical care center. After a few minutes of searching, he finally found a few boxes of contacts that were his prescription. As he started to place more items into his basket, he felt a warm hand softly stroke him on the back of his neck. Thinking that it was one of the girls, he turned and his eyes widened at who he saw.

"Cordelia?" Wesley asked as he suddenly became out of breath. She was wearing an all white gown and would have looked heavenly if it wasn't for the frown that was on her beautiful face. She had visited him often within the last couple of days, but he had shrugged it off as a guilty dream. Especially since she had always appeared when he was tired.

"Who else would, I be?" she asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"But... but you're dead." Wesley replied as he took a step back. He'd been through an apocalypse or two before but maybe now he was truly losing his mind.

"Yeah." Cordelia replied through narrowed eyes. "No thanks to you."

"I..."

"Let's face it, Wes." Cordelia cut him off as she started to slink towards him. "You're the weak one out of the bunch. You've always been weak. Back in Sunnydale, with Angel, and now with Faith. Look around you. Look at all of those powerful women." As he did, he saw the assassin, the Slayer, and the ex-cop, grabbing items that were needed for survival in the shop. "Do you really think they need you?"

As Cordelia asked that, she disappeared and was replaced with a zombie. With a girlish scream, Wesley fell to the floor, the walker falling with him. As it inched closer and closer to his neck, it's jaws snapping trying to get to it's newest meal, the end of a sword was suddenly embedded in it's head.

Watching the zombie, slump over dead, Wes looked up to see that it was Faith that had saved him.

"Wes are you..."

"I'm... I'm fine." Wesley cut her off as he pushed her hand away and stood to his feet. Looking around, he saw the others start to gather around him. "We've gathered enough things." he said as he grabbed the bag that he had dropped on the floor earlier. "Let's move."

"What crawled up the bookworms ass?" Marcie asked as the ex-Watcher stalked out of the front door.

"I don't know." Faith replied as she looked after him in concern. Picking out a few more things that they would need, they all headed out of the door.

Faith got on her motorcycle, as Kate took the wheel in the van, Marcie sitting beside her. Still sulking, Wesley got in the back and was vaguely aware of a another presence being in the vehicle. Looking to his side, he saw a man he thought was dead.

Maybe I am going mad? Wesley thought to himself.

"You're not crazy yet buddy." Angelus told him with a dark smile. "Believe me, I know a little about crazy."

"How... why are you here?" Wes asked nervously.

"What did you say?" Marcie asked as she turned to look at him.

"No... nothing." Wesley replied as he cleared his throat.

""Relax old chap." Angelus said with a crappy English accent. "You're the only one that can see or hear me."

What are you and why are you here? Wesley thought to himself, making Angelus' smile widen.

"You Watcher's are more perceptive then I give you credit for." the ghostly Angelus said as he looked out of the window. "Mmmm mmmm, look at Faithie. Jail really did her some good. It's a shame what's going to happen to her."

"What!" Wes blurted out as Marcie and Kate gave him a look. Giving them a sheepish grin, they turned around and went back to what they were doing.

"I can't go into details." Angelus replied with a toothy grin. "Let's just say that little Miss Faith, ain't gonna make it."

What can I do to save her? Wesley asked.

"Grow up and accept what this new world is." was all Angelus would say as he blinked away, leaving a stunned Wesley in his wake.

After a couple of hours of driving, Wesley slumped over in the back seat looking at the scenery as it went by. As his eyes started to droop, his mind was consumed with nothing but the memory of his ghostly visits from before.

"What the hell is this?" Kate asked as she started to slow the van down.

Coming fully alert, Wesley sat up and looked out the front window and saw an army detail in the middle of the road.

"Turn around." Marcie said nervously as she licked her lips. "Turn this piece of shit around and go the other way."

"Why?" Kate asked even as she started to do what she was told. Before Marcie could roll down her window to warn Faith not to go that way, the Slayer's bike zoomed past them and stopped smack dab in front of the army.

"Shit." Marcie spat out, as Wesley and Kate gave her a look.

* * *

Not having enough time to stop and see why her friends had turned around, Faith stopped her bike in front of a group of people and vehicles that were in the middle of the road. Taking a good look she saw that it was the army.

"Fuck!" she shouted more so under her breath.

"Ma'am we need for you to cut off your vehicle and step off of it." one of the army men, a Sgt., said as he stood in front of his unit. "And then we want you to come with us."

"I ain't going anywhere with you guys." Faith replied as she narrowed her eyes and revved up her bike.

"I'm afraid..." the Sgt. started as his men started to surround her, their weapons drawn. "... I insist."

With a roll of her eyes and a curse on her lips, Faith stepped off of her bike and raised her hands.

* * *

"Wes they have her surrounded." Kate said over to the ex-Watcher, who now sat beside her, Marcie having moved to the back. "What the hell are we going to do now?"

As she said that one of the soldiers tapped at the side of Wesley's door. While they were talking and waiting to see what was going to happen to Faith, some of the army men had mobilized and surrounded them. "We surrender." Wesley mumbled over to his companion as he raised his hands up.

Seeing the army starting to open up the doors to the van, Marcie disappeared and slipped out of the vehicle, watching from a distance as the others had black bags slipped over their heads and were being led away.

She had to find a way to help her friends.

Place Unknown

Faith was roughly shoved down into a chair as her black bag was removed from her head, a bright light shining into her eyes. Not being able to cover her face with her hands, which were bound behind her back with chains, she closed her eyes.

"Damn." a man's familiar voice said with a chuckle. "That light is bright isn't it? Let's see what we can do about that." as he spoke he reached behind the standing light source and dimmed it. "There, is that better Faith?"

Her eyes finally adjusting to the now dim light, Faith saw one of the few things she believed would survive an apocalypse. It was that lawyer that hired her to kill Angel some time ago. He looked slightly different, somehow more powerful. His name was...

"Lindsey?" Faith whispered.

"The one and the same." he replied with a smile as his eyes quickly flashed red with flecks of orange for the briefest of seconds. "Well mostly the same."

"Uh huh." Faith said as she again narrowed her eyes and tried to silently break through her chains.

"Don't bother trying to break through your bonds." Lindsey said as he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her, just out of her reach. "I always thought that they were a myth but those chains were crafted by an ancient demon God named Hephaestus. It's funny what you can acquire by working with the Senior Partners. Hell, Hercules himself couldn't break out of those chains."

"Cool story, now what the fuck am I doing here and where is my team!?"

"Easy now." Lindsey replied with an easy going smile. He was really enjoying this. "First things first. Where's Angel?" as the Slayer looked away from his gaze, he knew the answer. "Sorry for your loss." he said with a chuckle as she tried to jump at him. "As for why you're here... well on behalf and as the voice of the Senior Partners, I'm working with the US government to purify Earth so they can come back. That's why these border patrols were set up so we could test everyone and purify the ones that have the virus."

"When you say purify..."

"I mean kill off any and all humans and demons that have been infected with this virus." he informed her. "Good news by the way. You and your friends aren't infected."

"What's the bad news?" She knew there had to be some.

"The bad news is, after I drain all of that precious Slayer blood out of you, when you die I'm going to have your friends killed anyway." Lindsey replied with a dark smile as his eyes turned red again and he produced a jackal knife. It was at that moment, that Faith realized that she was sitting in a chair in an old draining tub that the slaughter house used to drain pigs of their blood. Yeah today was a sucky day to say the least.

* * *

Wesley and Kate passed a row of apartment buildings. The multicolored facades behind them casually gave way to a wall of riot shields. They seemed oblivious as they approached the intersection, where... police officers and soldiers butted next to each other, blocking off the cross street. Wesley put his head down, while Kate stared on at the human barricade, when a police dog suddenly lunged at them, snarling and making both of them jump.

"Keep moving!" one of the soldiers behind them barked as he nudged Kate in the back with the muzzle of his gun.

Looking past him, she noticed the activity on the street beyond the barricade. Bewildered faces of frightened men and women, some still wearing pajamas, being lead out of their homes by uniformed officers.

With narrowed eyes, she watched as they were lined up against a wall and with little fanfare were fired upon by the army and the police.

"Hey!" Kate shouted as she threw up a hand.

"Quiet down bitch." the army Sgt. from before spoke up. "That'll be you and your friend soon enough."

Before she could reply, BOOM! A bomb exploded inside a nearby apartment, blowing out the windows, shaking the ground. Kate, Wesley, and a few of the soldiers were knocked off of their feet.

Smoke poured through the shattered facade of the building. The patio where the gang once looked towards moments before was simply gone. Wailes of pain chorused through the air as people staggered out of the blackened wreckage, bleeding, covered in debris. A woman soldier was splattered in blood, holding her own severed hand.

Wesley got up, shell-shocked, hands pressed against his ears. Shrieking alarms from nearby buildings blended with the "Eeeeeeeee" of his ringing ears.

* * *

As Lindsey raised up his knife, a sickening smile on his face, he was suddenly thrown off of his feet by a blast. "What the hell..." Getting back to his feet, he immediately snapped on his walkie talkie. "Talk to me. What's going on?" There was static over the line and as a voice came on, the air waves were suddenly filled with the sounds of gunfire. "Damn it."

"Your day is gonna get a whole lot worse." Faith said with a smirk as she stood up from the chair and dropped her chains to the floor. At her abductor's shocked look, she gave him a full blown smile. "I ain't Hercules. So are you going to give up or do we have to do this the hard way?" To emphasize her point, she cracked her knuckles.

"Sorry." Lindsey said with a smile of his own as he faded back into the darkness of the room, so only his glowing red eyes were visible. "Not today."

As Faith attempted to walk forward, she suddenly heard a gentle tapping on the floor. Reaching out with her Slayer senses, she saw a woman with black sunglasses coming out of the darkness. She was about her height and weight with curly brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail.

What the fuck is this about? Faith thought to herself as the blind woman grabbed her by the throat and threw her against a wall. With a curse on her lips, Faith came back swinging, but the other woman anticipated her every strike and avoided them easily. She was doing some type of eastern self defense routine, and Faith couldn't land a single hit, though she managed to knock her glasses off, showing that her eyes were all white - she really was blind.

Seeing that her opponent was caught off guard, Vanessa threw her across the room and was gone by the time Faith got back up.

"Damn." Faith growled as she dusted her clothes off and scanned the room. Both the blind woman and Lindsey were long gone. "That bitch just Daredeviled me."

* * *

Opening his eyes, Wesley saw that Kate was handing him a gun, from a fallen police officer.

Staring at the weapon offered to him, he thought about what Angelus had told him some time ago. It was time to grow up. Still not being able to fully hear, he still felt someone standing beside him. Looking over, he saw a badly hurt soldier standing over him, barking out orders. Being able to slightly read his lips, he saw that he seemed to be saying "Put your hands up!"

His brow raising up, along with one of his hands, BAM! Wesley's other hand was holding a gun, and he shot the soldier through the heart. Before the other soldier could react, Wesley swiveled and BAM! He got off another shot. And the second soldier crumpled to the ground... but managed to fire off a round into the air. BAM! Kate finished him off.

Taking a look at his beautiful blond companion, Wesley frowned, as he turned and saw some other soldiers coming. "Let's go to work." he mumbled as she handed him a fresh clip for his gun and they started to go head to head with the united states army and a few police officers.

* * *

As Marcie walked out of an apartment building, after setting off her bomb , several soldiers suddenly surrounded her carrying various weapons.

"Who the hell are you?" the leader of the team asked of her. Not getting an answer, he went on. "I said identify yourself!"

"Are you the one responsible for this?" Another man asked.

"Let's just detain her." as the leader said that, he lifted up a gun and was unprepared, as Marcie slapped his hand, making him shoot one of his men in the head that was standing right behind her.

Before he could yell in outrage, she stabbed him under his jaw with her sai and watched as the tip of the blade went through his skull. As his body dropped, she sent out a side kick, that pushed the cartilage of another man's nose through his brain, instantly killing him even as he flew backwards. Feeling someone behind her, she spun around and ducked under another man's swing before quickly stabbing him in the chest and stomach with her sai's.

Throwing the deadly projectiles, they embedded themselves into the chests of two of the men. Seeing his comrades dead, the remaining man tried to run only for her to throw a rock and hit him in the back of the leg, bringing him down to his knees. Swiftly moving forward, Marcie grabbed him on either side of his head and twisted with all of her might, snapping his neck with such force that it sent a hollow echo down the alley. Gathering her weapons, she walked towards where she thought her friends were.

* * *

The echo of gunfire dissipated as Kate and Wesley stood up from where they were keeping cover. Seeing the dead soldiers on the ground, they walked past them and saw two cops bleeding on the ground, one of them holding their hands up, begging for mercy. Silence.

That was until, Angelus looked over Wesley's shoulder. "Come on old boy." the vampiric apparition said with a smile. "Show em what you think about mercy."

Almost as soon as those words left his mouth, Wesley showed the cop the only thing that stood between mercy and life. It was a bullet.

"Hey!" they heard a familiar voice shout out. Looking up they saw Marcie running their way.

"Marcie?" Wesley asked as he looked around and surmised that she was the one that caused the distraction. "Where's Faith?"

"I'm over here." They heard her call out from the opposite direction that they were facing. "And I found all of our shit."

"Good, now let's get the fuck out of here." Marcie suggested as she saw the few civilian survivors that were around, run for their lives. Hearing some groaning beside them, they saw a soldier on the ground trying to get to his feet. He was young, unarmed, and wounded. After a few seconds, he was also very dead as Wesley blew off his head with his shotgun.

"Wes what the fuck did you kill him for!?" Faith exploded. "He was harmless. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that it's time for us to grow up." Wesley replied as he gave her an unbreakable glare. A glare that sent a shiver down her spine. She'd never known the man to look so angry. She didn't know what was wrong with her old Watcher but she didn't like it. "Now let's move."

At his order, the women gave each other a look before mindlessly following up behind him.

Later That Day

An Abandoned House

Wesley struck a match and lit a few candles as he looked at his reflection in a cracked mirror in the bathroom. Pouring some water out of a jug into the sink, he splashed some cold water on his face, before staring at his scruffy beard with his now intense brown eyes.

He and the girls had cleared out this house of zombies several hours ago, but he noticed that they all looked at him strangely now. Even now he knew that they were talking about him in the other room.

"The perception is, I'm weak." He said aloud, feeling a presence in the room. "That's why they're talking about me."

""They're wrong." Cordelia told him as she softly caressed the back of his head. "You do what you have to do to protect the people around you. To do what you know is right, regardless of the cost. You know, I never really understood that. You're the guy who makes all the hard decisions, even if you have to make 'em alone."

"Alone." Wesley whispered as he leaned forward, suddenly exhausted.

"Don't worry, you're not going to be alone." Cordy told him as she rubbed his back. "You just have to make the others understand. Don't worry though..." She said giving him her most winning smile. "... I'll be there for you every step of the way."


	30. Chapter 29 No Sanctuary

Chapter 29

No Sanctuary

To Faith's surprise, when she had returned back to Eddie's apartment they were all still alive. She was especially happy to see her little friend Hope. It had been a long road that wasn't without loss. Samantha had died from child birth after having Eddie's baby boy, Deacon Angel Davis. Wesley had done all he could for Samantha but it wasn't enough. With the help of a proper doctor there was a possibility that she could have been saved.

Before the end came for Samantha, she had become really cool with the entire group and they had become like a family. It saddened everyone by her passing and it seemed to serve as an eerie prelude to a mysterious flu virus that hit the community and killed almost everyone at the apartment complex. Even Marcie had gotten infected and if it wasn't for Wesley and Kate finding antibiotics and some other medicine, she would have died from the flu. There was nothing more scary then a zombie that could turn invisible.

After seeing so much death, especially after losing her mother, Hope had fallen into a catatonic state. The only ones she would semi respond to was her father and Faith. The apartment was a bust and it was time to move on.

Six Months Later

Night was rapidly falling as Faith and her gang maneuvered themselves throughout the small city. Looking to her left, Faith saw Wesley with an unreadable expression written on his face. During the last few months, he had really changed and had become more aggressive. She'd never admit it to him or any of the others but she was a little afraid of him now.

She still felt that he was a part of the team and that he cared for them but she'd be lying if she said she didn't feel a bit of darkness coming from him now. Maybe the apocalypse was affecting him more then she thought but it seemed like there was something more to it then that.

Looking back at her other team members, she saw that they were dirty, tired, and hungry. She grimaced a little as she saw little Hope, being dragged along by her father. Her eyes were vacant as if nobody was there. She didn't know what it was going to take but she promised herself that she would take that look out of her eyes. Taking a look at Eddie, she could only shake her head. The man had been through it and lost so much but here he was still caring for and loving his daughter.

Suddenly little Angel softly cooed, in Kate's arms, making the beautiful blond look down at him and cradle him. Faith didn't know what happened between the ex-cop and Eddie but he seemed to trust her more then just about anyone when it came to the well being of his children.

"Somebodies hungry." Kate observed as she smiled down at the baby boy, before addressing the others. "It's getting dark. We need to find a place for tonight."

"I already found the perfect spot." Marcie replied as she pointed on ahead. Looking up, they saw a church looming in the distance.

"It looks as though the lights are on." Wesley spoke up as he, Eddie, and Faith shared a look.

"Maybe there are survivors in there." Marcie suggested.

"Yes... maybe." Wesley said with little enthusiasm as he took out his shotgun, cocked it, and took the lead.

With the exception of Eddie, Kate, and the kids, Faith and the others walked into the building. They moved with the respectful quietness that people adopt when entering a church. The doors ahead to the main chamber were closed. Pushing them, gently trying the handle, it was obvious they were locked. But another open door was to their left. They went through it and moved up a stairwell. Written in blood and large on the wall was a single line of graffiti: REPENT. THE END IS EXTREMELY FUCKING NIGH

Feeling something in the pit of his stomach, Wesley tightened his grip on his shotgun as they moved into the gallery level, and saw, through the dust and rot, ornate but faded splendor. At the far end, a stained-glass window was illuminated by the moonlight. Wesley padded in, followed closely by the others, and stood at the gallery, facing the stained-glass window for a moment before looking down...Beneath were dozens of dead bodies. Layered over the floor, jammed into the pews, spilling over the altar. The scene of an unimaginable massacre. The gang stood, stunned. Then they saw, standing motionless at different positions facing away from them, four postures and stillness made their status unclear. Eyeing the others, Wesley hesitated before clearing his throat.

Immediately, the four heads flicked around. Infected. Before the group could react, in the next moment, there was the powerful thump of a door at the far end of the whirled to the source as the Infected below started to door thumped again - another stunningly powerful blow, the noise echoing around the chamber.

Confused on what to do next, Wesley's hand tightened around his gun. As Faith stepped onto the gallery, facing the door...it smashed open, revealing an infected Priest - who locked sight on her, and started to sprint.

"Forgive me father for I have sinned." Faith mumbled as she readied her crossbow. The Priest was half way across the gallery. Waiting until he got closer, the moonlight caught the Priest's face, showing clearly: the eyes. The blood smeared and collected around his nose, ears, and mouth. Darkened and crusted blood, accumulated over days and weeks. Fresh blood was glistening on his teeth.

In a movement of pure instinct, Faith shot the deadly bolt just as the Priest was about to reach her... and she watched as it connected squarely with the man's head. Watching Wesley taking care of the other four, she saw Marcie take out two grenades that she used to throw over the balcony into the pit of the dead.

"Everybody get down!" Marcie shouted as they hit the deck. The room was filled with a titanic boom. The explosion killed most of the zombies but the others had to kill the rest. After making sure everything else was okay the others came in and got settled.

* * *

"There ain't nothing here but these fucking communion wafers." Marcie said as she threw a couple of boxes of crackers on the floor.

"Hey watch your language!" Eddie growled out as the invisible girl turned to him with angry eyes.

"Why?" Marcie snapped. "Because we're in the house of the lord? Well news flash buddy, he ain't here anymore!"

Opening his mouth to argue, he closed it just as fast. He really couldn't argue with that. God wasn't there anymore. Nobody was watching over them. From the harsh sounds of their voices, little Angel started to cry uncontrollably now. With a roll of her eyes, Kate stood up and started to gently rock him in her arms.

Not being able to take the noise, Faith stood to her feet and surveyed the room again. Wesley was on the floor asleep, Kate was trying to silence the baby, Eddie and Marcie were now silently arguing about something in a corner, and little Hope... Hope was sitting in a chair, staring ahead. The light was gone from her eyes, her face a blank mask.

Faith's heart beating faster, she knew that if something didn't change and fast, that her team would perish. They only had enough food to last for a couple of more days and enough water to last for one. They had two kids that were a liability because one only cried while the other was catatonic and couldn't do anything on her own.

Having seen enough, she mumbled a "I'm going outside" before heading out of the room. Once outside, she paced around for a moment before looking up to the heavens.

"All my life, I ain't ever came to you for nothing." she said to the wind. "But just look into what you call your fucking house. We have kids in there. Kids that are starving and we're trying our best to push back the night. You've seen how shitty my life was before this and I'm trying my best to play nice." As she was saying this, she seemed to get madder and madder. "Just let us fucking breathe!"

As she said that a streak of lightning suddenly lit up the sky. The first bits of rain started to hit her nose and then it started to pour. Her body racking from tears, from the apparent miracle, she started to compose herself before she turned around to go back in. Before she could make it a few steps, she felt a presence approaching her. Turning she saw someone wearing a pink jacket coming through the downpour of rain down a neighboring alley.

Bringing up her crossbow, the figure suddenly threw up their hands.

"Hey, I'm cool." the woman said as she threw back her hood. Her blond locks dangled even in the downpour. "I... I just heard an explosion come from this direction a while ago and I figured I might find somebody that's alive." she said as she hunched up her shoulders. "And I was right."

"So what, you're out here by yourself?" Faith asked tightening her grip on her crossbow. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something off about the girl before her. Not only did she sound a little like Samantha but doing a double take she could have sworn that she was supposed to have known her from somewhere. "You don't have a crew... family... or friends?" As she said that, she noticed that the other girl flinched as if caught by a bad memory.

"It's just me." the blond told her, as she cleared her throat. "I don't know what happened to my folks and the people I was with... well.. I..."

"I get it." Faith cut her off, letting her off the hook. "You can stay with me and my group. At least until this storm is over. But to let you know those people in there are my family. If you try something..."

"I promise, I won't do anything."

"Good." Faith said through narrowed eyes, that were slightly burning because of the downpour of rain. "Names Faith."

"Harmony." Harmony replied with a toothy grin as she adjusted her Hello Kitty backpack, that she had slapped a sticker of a unicorn on, and looked up at the building that Faith was leading her to. "You... you guys are holed up in a church?"

"Yeah." Faith replied, noticing how the other woman voice shook at the mention of a church. "You got a problem with that?"

"No... I ... I'm just not really religious." she said lamely.

"Who is these days?" Faith asked. "Come on." As Faith led the way into the church, Harmony shivered a little as she entered the holy temple and looked around at the people in the room.

"Is that rain that I heard outside?" Eddie asked as Faith entered the room first.

"Yeah, so we need to get garbage cans or something we can use to start collecting it." the Slayer replied as she laid her crossbow down on the floor and took off her jacket.

"Whose your friend?" Kate asked as she cradled the still crying Angel in her arms.

"Hi." Harmony said with a friendly wave as Eddie tossed her a towel, which she quickly used to wipe her hands and hair off with. "My names Harmony."

"Harmony?" Marcie asked as she sat up off the floor. "Harmony Kendall?"

"Yeah... I... I remember."

"Oh cut the crap Harmony." Marcie cut her off. "We've only known each other since grade school and you still don't know who I am."

Realizing that at least Marcie knew this new girl, some of the tension in Faith's body started to set on ease. Looking towards Hope, she saw that even she turned to look at Harmony. Maybe it was because Harmony sounded similar to her mother.

"Oh my gosh is that a baby?" Harmony asked as she looked to the taller blond. "I... I haven't seen a baby in a long time. Can I hold it?" Looking towards Eddie for approval and seeing as though Marcie knew the other woman, Kate handed her the baby. As soon as little Angel went into her hands the baby stopped crying. "Ahh coochie, coochie coo." she said as the baby started to laugh at the funny faces she was making. "Baby's really dig me."

"It looks like we have a new babysitter." Eddie told her.

"You... you mean I can stay?" Harmony asked of him. Seeing that no one had any objections, she smiled.

"You...!?" they heard Wesley growl out as he awoke from his slumber and stood to his feet. "Get the baby away from her. She's a vampire."

"I knew there was something fucking off about you." Faith sneered as she kicked her crossbow into her hands.

"I... I won't hurt him." Harmony cried out as she slowly handed the baby over to Kate and threw her hands up. "P...please don't kill me."

Not saying a word, Faith fired off a bolt, aimed for Harmony's heart, only to stare in awe as the vampiress caught it expertly in one hand. With a cry, Harmony ran out of the room with Faith and Marcie in hot pursuit.

Grabbing his shotgun and a stake, Wesley was about to join them until Cordelia suddenly appeared behind him.

"Stop them from killing her." she whispered into his ear, making him frown.

"Why?" Wesley asked with a sneer as he cocked his gun. Not caring if Kate or Eddie heard him seemingly talking to himself.

"Because she has a soul." Cordelia called out to him, stopping him in his tracks as he tried to walk forward. "She has his soul."

Catching onto her meaning, he ran for the door. Giving each other a look Kate and Eddie glanced back at Hope and saw that she was still sitting in her chair. Knowing that there was nothing in the church that could harm her now, they both walked out of the room and went to the exit that led to the alley to look out the door.

* * *

Harmony made a mad dash out of the church, going as fast as vampiricly possible down the alleyway. She didn't know what she was thinking trying to hang around humans, even in a time like this. Maybe it was because she missed human contact, since she had been wandering around aimlessly for months on end avoiding them.

Hearing a whizzing sound in the air, her demonic reflexes weren't enough as she was hit in the back of the knee with a metal trash can lid. Tumbling to the wet and dirty ground, she looked up to see Faith, crossbow in hand, and Marcie standing over her.

"You know I never liked you." Marcie spat out to the downed vampire as she took out her sai's. Seeing that Faith was giving her a look, she shrugged. "She was a bully in school."

"You picked the wrong place to try to crash vampire." Faith said angrily as she brought up her crossbow. "Time to die."

"No please." Harmony begged, as she threw her hands up, as if that action would stop the assault. "I... I haven't even fed on people in months. I... I just feed on animals. I think I have a soul. I'm...I'm not evil. I can be good... I can be good!"

As Harmony yelled that, Faith's mind flashed back to when she herself was in a similar predicament some time ago. The difference was she was begging in the rain for Angel to kill her and this vampire was begging to live. And did she just say that she had a soul?

"Faith." Wesley said lowly as he put his hand on her shoulder. "You heard her say that she might have a soul. I can perform a spell to make sure that's true. You also need to remember something. The Shanshu prophecy must be fulfilled. Angel is dead but perhaps his soul has moved on to... another host." he said as he gave Harmony a disgusted look, trying his best to make a cover story for her. "It's over."

Her mind reeling, Faith started to question herself. What would Angel do? Her decision was made a moment later as before anybody could stop her, little Hope walked past them and sat in Harmony's lap. To the vampire's credit she held onto the little girl like a life line. With a heavy sigh and the word fuck mumbled under her breath, Faith lowered her crossbow.

As much of a monster as she thought she was, Angel had still given her a choice and a chance. He had seen something in her that she didn't see in herself. He saw that she could be redeemed. Looking down at the retched soul, that was looking back at her with haunted eyes, Faith stared deeply into her blue pools and saw a spark there.

"Let's go in and get some stuff to collect some of this rain." Faith said as she bent down and picked up her crossbow. Seeing Marcie looking at her through narrowed eyes, Faith returned her stare letting her know that her decision was made and was final. Backing down, the invisible girl looked to see Harmony standing to her feet, with Hope in her arms.

As the little girl was snatched away from her, by her father, Harmony looked up at Eddie with teary eyes. She'd never hurt that little girl. Feeling a pair of eyes burning into the side of her head, she looked over and saw Marcie staring at her.

"You make one move against us... just one and I'll kill you myself." Marcie said loudly as she stormed off and back into the church.

Looking through the haze of rain and at the others, who were looking at her indifferently, Harmony watched as they all turned from her and went back into the church. All except Wesley who had his hand held out to her. Not knowing what else to do or where else to go, she took his hand. Her work done for now, Cordelia stepped back into the shadows and disappeared.


	31. Chapter 30 All Who Follow You

Chapter 30

All Who Follow You

Several Months Later

The gang tiredly walked over a hill, with the late day sun beating down on them. They were tired, hungry, thirsty, and dirty. They'd gone a day and a half without food or water, and the entire group was weak and exhausted. They had run out of fuel and supplies several days ago and were forced out onto the open road.

Faith and Wesley took the lead, with Marcie, Kate, and Eddie walking sluggishly behind them. Harmony and Hope took up the rear. Harmony wore a dark cloak and gloves to keep the sun from frying her. It had taken her awhile for the group to trust her and honestly she still didn't know if some of them truly did.

To be more accurate, she should have said that she earned the groups respect. Over the last few weeks, she had volunteered for the most dangerous missions and had scavenged food and supplies that the group needed to survive. Scratch that. Harmony hadn't earned their respect. The former vampire with a soul had. His soul was in her now influencing her every move and how she thought. At times she didn't know where she began and he ended. No matter what though, there was one thing he had nothing to do with. He had nothing to do with the love Harmony felt for the little girl, whose hand she was currently holding.

The both of them had a shared love of unicorns and would draw and color them. The little girl was like the sister Harmony never had but always wanted. She would die for Hope if it came to that. She just hoped that she could find some rats or something to drain them of blood soon because Hope was starting to smell delicious to her now. Looking down at her, Harmony's eyes flecked yellow for a second as she felt the blood coursing through the little girls veins. Closing her eyes, she struggled to get control over herself. She had to remember that she'd never hurt her.

Harmony's eyes widened as she stopped walking. Concentrating her vampiric senses, she heard that familiar sound again. "Guy's." she called out happily making everyone stop and turn to look at her. "Water."

As she said that, she followed the sound of running water, the others dragging along behind her until they came along a small creek. With a smile at their change of luck, Faith watched a small ripple appear in the water. A second later a small fish jumped into the air and then back into the water.

Handing the baby over to Faith, Kate went about making a crude water filter. It was yet another thing that her father had showed her how to do at a young age. It was a skill she thought she'd honestly never use and now she thought that all of those camping trips she was taken on wasn't for naught.

As she took off her shirt, to use as a part of the filter, Marcie gathered some pots to boil the water after it was filtered and Wesley walked off to find building material to make a fire. Sitting down next to the creek Harmony and Hope giggled as they tried to catch a few of the fish, that still jumped up in the water.

Seeing that everyone was busy with something, Eddie slinked off alone. Feeling that he was far enough from the group, he leaned against a tree and let loose months of anger and frustration by starting to cry. He had lost his beautiful wife Samantha and for a moment he thought that he would lose little Hope. That was until Harmony came around. He hated to admit it but she was a lifesaver.

So much was going on around him, that he never truly made time for himself to mourn. He was trying his best to not think about his wife that much but he couldn't. He was trying to force himself to move on with Kate but it was just too soon after his wife's passing. She was a godsend in and of herself for helping to take care of little Angel.

Hearing a noise, Eddie looked up and spotted a campfire in the distance. Deciding not to investigate on his own, he went back to his own camp and informed the others. Marcie and Wesley stayed behind with the kids as the others followed the trail and came across a pile of hacked limbs.

"This just happened." Harmony noted as she and Kate investigated the crime scene.

Sniffing the air, Harmony looked up to find a woman's naked and disemboweled body tied to a tree, a "O" carved into her forehead.

"Did this just happen?" Faith asked, as Harmony grimly confirmed it with a nod of her head. Startling the whole group, the woman suddenly awakened as a zombie. With a sorry on her lips, Kate disposed of her with a stab to the head.

"What the fuck happened here?" Eddie asked as he looked around at the arms, legs, and torsos on the ground. "Do you guys think this was a part of some kinda demonic ritual or something?"

Before anyone could even attempt to answer his question they all heard a man yell out "Oh God please help us." Following the direction of the scream, they came out into an open field and saw five demons circling a tall white man and a small child. The demons were gruesome pinkish creatures with hairy shoulders and stitches all over their heads and nasty black shark teeth on their lipless jaws.

"All your screams have done is make it even more exciting for me to kill you." One of the demons mumbled in a feminine voice as they hoisted up a large ax. Before she could hack them into pieces a dagger suddenly whizzed by and embedded itself through the demons hand, making it drop the ax to the ground.

Turning, the demons saw Faith and company, standing behind them with various weapons drawn.

"It's time for an ass whooping." Faith told the demons as behind her, Harmony let out a low growl and switched into her vampiric visage. Running past the others she started to tear through the demon pack and drain some of them of their blood, while at the same time Hank covered his daughter's eyes and turned away.

Jumping into the fray, the group made quick work of the demon clan, except one that managed to escape. As Harmony attempted to run after it, Faith put a hand on her shoulder. It just wasn't worth the trouble.

"God... thank you!" the man they had just saved cried out, as he brought the little girl that was by his side closer to him, before reaching out to shake Eddie's hand.

"What the... what happened back there?" Eddie asked changing what he was going to ask as he nodded back to where they came from.

"Those... those things just came out of nowhere and they..." He stopped talking for a moment as he tried to collect himself.

Seeing that the kid might've been on the verge of a nervous breakdown, from seeing what ever it was she saw, Eddie decided to change the subject. "Look man our camp ain't far from here. You can stay with our group for a little while if you want to."

"We'll take you up on that offer." the man said with a wide smile as he extended his hand again for Eddie to shake. "My name is Hank and this is my daughter Sarah."

Great. More mouths to feed. Faith thought to herself as they started to walk back to their group. As she leaned her crossbow over her shoulder, she looked down at the little girl that was trailing behind her dad and she could have sworn that she was the spitting image of Buffy.

* * *

Wesley stared hard at the group as they came into the clearing and into their camp. He narrowed his eyes a little as he saw a man walking behind Faith. He knew he'd never met the man before but still he knew his face from somewhere. Looking past the mystery man, Wesley saw a little girl walking slowly behind him. His eyes shot up a little bit as he noticed, much like Faith did, how the little girl bared a striking resemblance to Buffy.

"Hey Honey. We're home." Faith started as she looked to Wesley and then to the bundle of small fish that were skewered and cooking over an open fire. "And we brought a couple of dinner guests."

"And who might they be?" Wesley asked as he stood to his feet and walked towards them.

"My name is Hank." Hank greeted. "Hank Summers. And this is my little girl Sarah Summers."

"Summers?" Wesley asked as he and Faith gave each other a look. Quickly searching through his memory to place the man before him, it hit him like a shot. "You're not Buffy Summers father are you?"

"Yeah!" Hank shouted. "You know her? Are she and Dawn..."

"We don't know." Faith answered glumly.

"Look, the fish is almost done." Marcie said as she handed Angel over to Kate. "Let's just all sit down and then we can talk."

Following her suggestion, they all sat down on the ground and listened to Hank's story of survival. It seemed that he, his girlfriend, and daughter laid low in his Beverly Hills manor after the outbreak first occurred. After a few weeks they had run out of food and had no choice but to venture out into the new world. A world filled with the dead.

They had somehow managed to make it for several weeks with no incident until one day, on a search for supplies, his girlfriend was bitten and had turned into a monster. Not being able to kill her, he left with his daughter and they wondered around until they had found a large group of people and they had made a community. Over time that group grew smaller and smaller from people getting killed off or leaving. Deciding to be one of the people that left, he and a small group of others took off in search of a better place to live.

They'd had a few incidents here and there but no one had died. That was until today when they had gotten routed by a band of demons and used as ritual sacrifices. What made the situation even more gruesome was for the fact that his daughter Sarah took everything in stride as if it wasn't important. Even her mothers death.

"You and your group made it a long way from where you started." Wesley said with true admiration. "Did you have a specific place in mind that you were headed?"

"We were headed a hundred miles out to a place we heard about called Warrenville." Hank replied as he pointed behind them. "They have big walls and heavy guns to keep walkers out. The people we came across said that they heard about it and that they were going there."

"So you don't even know if this place even exists?" Kate asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No... but... but that's all the hope we need to keep going on." Hank told her as he looked to his daughter.

Before anyone could say anything, a soft gentle amount of water started to fall down from above. As the sky turned black, Harmony threw off her hood and let the rain drops fall on her face. With a smile, she, Hope, Sarah and most of the group started to cheer at their turn of good luck. It seemed that Harmony really was good with kids and that maybe someone really was watching over them.

Everyone seemed to have a smile on their face except for Wesley, Eddie, and Marcie. They had just lost so much and had so many secrets that they were keeping inside. The gleeful celebration was interrupted when the group looked up and saw the sky turn dark and angry. There was a severe thunderstorm approaching quickly.

"So much for being happy for a few seconds." Faith mumbled to herself.

"There's a small house not far from here." Hank spoke up over the rain. "My daughter and I crashed there just yesterday with the group we were with. We can go there for tonight."

"Lead the way." Wesley said to him as he and the others gathered what little they had and followed him.

* * *

After making sure the tiny house was secure, the gang went into various rooms to get ready to turn in for the night. Walking past one of the small bedrooms, Faith saw Marcie sitting on the window seal looking out at the rain with a sad look on her face.

"Hey you been quiet the last few weeks." Faith started as she walked into the room. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Marcie said as she looked over at her and then out of the window again.

"Is that a real nothing or a deep nothing where you really want me to talk to you?" Faith asked as she walked fully into the room and closed the door.

"The world fell apart and I'm still keeping secrets." Marcie said as she turned from looking out of the window, an unreadable yet sad smile on her face. "Ain't that funny."

"What do you mean?" Faith asked as she sat on the bed and looked over at her.

"Look, I'll just get like two of those fish in the morning and then I'll get the fuck out of here." Marcie said as she stood to her feet.

"Wait where the fuck is that coming from?" Faith asked in confusion as she stood to her feet and grabbed the other girls arm.

"Look, I betrayed you." Marcie replied as she jerked her arm free. "You remember when we first met and you asked me why I was in LA? Well not only was I an assassin for the government but I did a little freelance work for Wolfram and Hart. I was hired to take out innocent people. I was even hired to kill your mentor Angel and his team, but the apocalypse happened and the checks stopped rolling in so I abandoned the mission. Every since you told me about Lindsey a few months ago, I've just been feeling guilty about what I was supposed to do. So, what now? What do we do now? You and me, what happens now?"

"Go to hell." Faith mumbled.

"I...I understand." Marcie replied as she walked to the door. "Just... just tell the others that it was time for me to leave."

"Marcie where the fuck do you think you're going?" Faith asked as she stood in her way.

"Look, I don't want to fight." Marcie replied as she took a deep breath. "I just want to get out of here and..."

"Look... you asked me where we were going and I told you." Faith started as she cut her off. "We're going to hell. A hundred miles is a long fucking way and who knows what hell is out there."

"You... you want me to stay?" Marcie asked in awe.

"Why wouldn't I want you to stay?"

" Because of what I just told you... I

"You betrayed me." Faith cut her off, her voice raising another octave. "You betrayed this whole fucking team and our friendship with your lies and bullshit! I can't believe you've been keeping this from me for so long. You're supposed to be my right fucking hand."

"Then why... why do you want me to stay?" Marcie asked, shrinking away

"Why?" Faith asked incredulously as her features suddenly softened. "Do you think I care for you so fucking little that lying to me would make me throw you out?" As she said that Marcie's eyes started to water. "You didn't kill Angel... I had to. That's on my soul now. As far as I'm concerned all that shit happened in another life. We're a family now but just don't try that shit again."

Small Bathroom

"So where do we go from here?" Wesley asked Cordelia as he walked into the bathroom and she materialized by the sink. "We've been walking for months and we're still no closer to this "promised land" that you told me about."

"Actually you are." Cordelia replied with a smile. "I'd say you're about a hundred miles away, due west."

"Mr. Wesley..." a voice spoke up. Looking down, Wesley saw Sarah Summers walk around the corner where the toilet was and look from him to Cordelia. Smiling at Cordelia she asked. "Who is she?"

"You can see me?" Cordelia asked as the little girl shook her head yes. Glancing at Wesley, she again looked to the little girl. "There's something about that Summer's blood."

"She's a friend." Wesley finally answered the little girl. "But you have to keep her a secret."

"I promise." Sarah said with another smile as she looked to the ghostly being, that looked back at her and smiled.

There's something about that Summer's blood indeed. Cordelia thought to herself as she looked to the ex-Watcher. "Go west and you'll find Warrenville. Make sure that little Sarah here makes it there too."

A Cave

The demon that managed to escape Faith's wrath the day before, slowly shambled out of a dark dank cave. Reaching it's, still bleeding hand out of the mouth of the cave, it felt that the rain had turned into a light drizzle. Stepping fully out of it's shelter, it looked up and saw the sun trying to peek out from behind a thick-let of clouds.

"Behold, I am D'Hoffryn! Lord of Arashmaharr, he that turns the air to blood and rains death upon those that oppose me." Upon hearing the voice the demon turned to the speaker and it saw a horned demon with oil black eyes. Behind him stood a tall lithe woman with long black hair, wearing Victorian styled clothing. Beside her stood three men. One had on a expensive Armani suit, the other was a sadistic looking man with a priest's collar, and the last one was a hairless and red-skinned demon, with an inhumanly prominent chin as well as a lazy eye, wearing a red zoot suit. "You have done well with your ritual sacrifices young one."

"But my clan was killed." the demon spoke up.

"That doesn't matter." D'Hoffryn replied with a toothy smile. "There was only one position open anyway. Lissadomenion, welcome to the Court of Owls."

As he said that Lissadomenion's body started to rapidly shake, until she turned into a beautiful young black woman, that looked like the singer Ashanti. "Please just call me, Lissa."

"The sun is shining on this one." Drusilla said as she slowly started to dance to music only she could hear.

"I smell a bit of chaos." the demon Sweet said with a smile. "I bet she'll make the Slayer burn."

"Why take the form of a woman?" Caleb asked in distaste, before having a thought. " I understand. Just like a woman you were born dirty. Born without a soul, born with that gaping maw that wants to open up and suck out a man's marrow. Makes me puke to think too hard on it."

"Now... now, Father Caleb." D'Hoffryn lightly admonished, even though he had a smile on his face. "She is now a member of the Court of Owls, so for all rights and purposes she is a sister in our flock."

"Ain't no sister of mine." Caleb started to simper.

With a shake of his head, D'Hoffryn looked to the man in the Armani suit. "Please Mr. Hamilton, get us out of here."

Without a word, Hamilton took a coin out of his pocket and flipped it into the air. as it fell to the ground a portal opened. Floating a few inches off of the ground the horned leader of the Court of Owls entered the gateway as the others slowly went in behind him, a song on Sweet's lips as it closed behind them.

End Flashback

"After we left that house we followed Wesley's lead and kept heading west." Faith said starting to conclude her story. "It took a minute but we finally got to the gates of your spot. Not bad B." Faith said as she looked around at the mansion. She still needed to know what transpired between the people she had seen Buffy kill though.

Buffy stared at Faith for a long hard minute after the other woman finished telling her story. She had truly been through so much. Standing to her feet, she watched as Faith did the same. Assuring Kendra that everything was all right, Buffy slowly shuffled to the other side of the table and did something very uncharacteristic. But after all they had been through, maybe not. She gave Faith a hug.

"Thank you." Buffy whispered into Faith's hair. "For... for Angel. I... I don't think I could've done that."

"He wasn't my first love but he was still family." Faith whispered back, happy that she had finally seemed to had gotten the approval from Buffy that she had always wanted.

Letting go of what used to be her enemy, Buffy turned and looked to her Lieutenant. "Kendra can you make sure that everybody gets a place to... a place to sleep?" Buffy asked. God she was so tired. After getting a nod from her, Buffy turned back to Faith. "Where's the rest of your team? They're not..."

"They're good." Faith assured her. "Kate and the others are outside of your city. I just wanted to scope this place out before everybody came in."

"Get them and let them know that everything is... five by five." Buffy replied with a smirk. One that Faith returned, before nodding to Marcie, who got up and went to get the others. "You had a long journey Faith. Go and get some sleep."

As Buffy said that she lurched forward and wasn't surprised as someone was there to hold her up. She was surprised however to see that it was her sister. Helping her to find somewhere to rest, Buffy stopped for a moment and completely ignoring her father, she reached down and gently stroked what was now her baby sister on the cheek and was taken aback by how calm the little girl was.

Continuing forward Buffy looked back to Kendra and saw that her sister Slayer was staring holes into Faith. Noticing Buffy's watchful eye, Kendra silently walked out of the room. Things had just gotten interesting.

Outside The Gates of Warrenville

"Let's see how you feel when you're burning in hell bitch." Warren-bot said into the air as he lifted a giant barrel of gas over his head. Suddenly his internal motion detector picked up movement behind him.

Before he could turn around, a fist violently punched through his back and through his chest. With wide eyes, he was just in time to get hit in the face by a punch that knocked his head off, sending the barrel crashing to the ground. Gas gushing everywhere.

"I love it when a plan comes together." Hamilton said as he removed his fist from the Warren-bot and let it drop to the ground.

"Shame, he weren't a man but he hated a woman." Caleb said as he looked down at Warren-bots decapitated head. "I can respect that. What I don't understand is why are we protecting that harlot and her little sinning buddies?"

"Because it's not time for any of them to die yet." Hamilton told him with a shrug. "D'Hoffryn will let us know when it's time. Now come on and let's get out of here. I'm sure the massacre will start soon."

End Season three


	32. Chapter 31 Whisper

This serves as a prologue for season 4

Chapter 31

Whisper

Several months had passed since Faith and her flock had joined Buffy and her group. To say that every thing was honky dory would be a lie but everyone seemed to get along. Dawn seemed to get closer and closer to her father while Buffy got more and more distant. She did love having a baby sister though and she would tease Dawn mercilessly that she wasn't the littlest Summers anymore.

Much to both groups happiness, Eddie had finally given in and he and Kate finally started to date. No one had ever seen Kate so happy before and now she really served a purpose in being a mother figure to little Angel and Hope, instead of just being a glorified babysitter. Eddie, Marcie, Gwen, and Dawn were also given the job of being watchmen in the guard tower, while Kate was given the job of constable over the entire city.

Harmony seemed to have really grown on everyone and even Wesley stopped giving her the cold shoulder. Not only was she helping Fred to teach Hope and Sarah how to read but she also showed herself to be a skilled investigator, which made her and Kate good partners. It also made Kate give her the job of being her deputy.

Warren was right about one thing though. The city did need someone smart to run it. Which after a quick election by the people, Fred was nominated as the Mayor of the city, with Kate, Buffy, Amy, Lexie, Wesley and a couple of others chosen by the people, serving on a special council.

Faith, Gunn, Kendra, and Jesse were chosen as scavengers that would leave the city in search of food, supplies, and other people that wanted to join their community. Riley and Sam were in charge of training select people from the community in the art of gorilla and military tactics. They were going to be used in case of a zombie horde or if someone was out there in large groups that wanted to take over their community.

Nothing in the community was perfect but at least everyone was contributing to making this place better and making things work.

* * *

"Fuck it's hot out here." Faith commented as she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. "Who knew that the apocalypse would be complete bullshit."

"What, did you think it would be, a picnic?" Jesse asked through his laughter.

"Quiet you two." Kendra spoke up, more then a little annoyed. Faith and Jesse seemed to be getting close... a little too close for Kendra's tastes, the last couple of months and it unnerved her. For some reason as she continued to walk she could have sworn she heard someone whispering her name. Turning to the others she saw that they were slightly confused as if they were hearing voices as well. Suddenly Kendra felt weird in the pit of her stomach as she noticed something in the distance.

Following her lead, the group found a decapitated corpse with a sign reading 'Liar' nailed into it's chest.

"I hope nobody thinks I'm lying when I tell them my name is Gunn." Gunn quipped as everyone gave him a look.

Moving forward, the group came into an opening and saw a cabin deep within the woods. As they approached the property, another headless corpse was found with another sign, this one saying 'Rapist'. Still moving they walked to the front door and found yet another corpse; this one dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound with 'Murderer' written on a sign. Upon seeing all of the corpses, the gang all had one collective thought. What the hell happened here?

Being so used to death they moved forward, however cautiously and explored inside. Not even having to use her Slayer hearing, Kendra heard a walker inside one of the rooms. Closing her eyes for a second, Kendra snapped them open as she felt the prescence of other ghouls in the house. Before she could warn the others the zombies quickly shuffled into the room. Snapping out a side kick, she got one of them in the chest making it tumble to the floor.

Chancing a glance at the others, Kendra saw that they were holding their own. Hearing a sudden moaning by her ear, her temporary distraction nearly proved fatal as a zombie attempted to bite into her arm. Before the once man, could take a bite out out her perfect mocha color flesh, a bolt whizzed by her ear and embedded itself into it's head instantly killing it. Turning Kendra saw Faith lower her crossbow, with a big smile on her face.

"You could've killed me!" Kendra yelled as she got in Faith's face and after making sure that the room was clear.

"You're welcome." Faith replied with a roll of her eyes as she was about to light a cigarette. A cigarette of which Kendra slapped out of her hand, before getting into her face. As the two of them started to get into it, Gunn and Jesse just gave each other a look.

"Ummm ladies... we ummm kinda have a job to do." Jesse pointed out.

"Be quiet!" Faith snapped at him, making her sister Slayer even more irate.

"Don't tell me boyfriend to be quiet!" Kendra shouted back.

"Thanks for taking up for me babe." Jesse said to his girl with a smile.

"Be quiet!" Kendra yelled at him.

"But..." Jesse stopped talking as Gunn put a hand on his shoulder. With a shake of his head, the slightly older man nodded and they both walked out of the room.

"I just saved your fucking life." Faith pointed out as she got within inches of the other woman's face. "So the way I see it, you owe me one. Now what's your problem, Ken?"

"You're me problem." Kendra replied as she pushed Faith back. At the same time, the zombie that Kendra had kicked to the ground sat up and looked at them both. "You tink of yourself as my replacement don't you?"

"One Slayer dies and another one is called." Faith said as she hunched up her shoulders. "So yeah, I am your fucking replacement." As she said that, the zombie suddenly grabbed Faith's leg. Before it could bite into her like a happy meal, Kendra jumped up slightly in the air and curb stumped the zombies head making it explode like a watermelon.

"Now you owe me one." Kendra declared as they both froze in place. The hair on the back of their necks standing on end. There was something evil in the air and it left them seemingly powerless.

MWOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Kendra and Faith turned to the window listening to a indescribable sound, unlike anything they've ever heard before. It was terrifyingly primitive and profoundly disturbing.

"What the fuck is..." before Faith could complete her sentence a giant pillar of black smoke suddenly poured out of the woods and started to slowly approach the cabin. The girls didn't know what they were looking at but they felt pure evil coming from it in waves.

Her voice caught in her throat, all Kendra could do was back away from the window. Her mouth open in silent horror.

A/N Happy Early Thanksgiving everyone.


	33. Chapter 32 House of Wolves

Chapter 32

House of Wolves

"What the fuck was that noise?" Gunn asked as he and Jesse ran down the stairs of the cabin. Both of their backpacks halfway full with supplies. Seeing the girls speechless and staring ahead, Gunn walked past them and stared out of the window himself, his mouth agape.

Before anyone could say or do anything the black smoke zipped forward and started to seap into the cabin through the cracks in the window seal. The air in the cabin became thick. So thick that the gang could barely breathe. Just as they started to go into coughing fits, the smoke rose into the air and combined together and clung to the ceiling. Looking up as one, they saw that the smoke now had a mouth, huge arms, legs, and claws, but what was most prominent about it were it's large glowing red eyes. Large red eyes that were now watching them.

"What do we... what do we do now?" Jesse asked nervously as he stared intently at the black monstrosity that clung to the ceiling watching them all and snarling like a rabid dog.

Not saying a word, Gunn just raised his ax up and watched as the front door was kicked in. Looking back the gang saw three people rush into the room. Two men and a beautiful young woman wearing white. With steel in his eyes the shorter man took out a bible and looked up at the smoky demon.

"The night is far gone; the day is at hand." the man started. "So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. By the power of God I name thee evil creature the First and I banish thee from this realm!"

As he said that the smoke monster started to hiss and shrink in size. When the man started to repeat the bible verse the woman in white started to throw what looked to be water or more accurately holy water, while the other man held up a cross. After a few agonizing moments, the demon turned into a small twister of energy and went through the ceiling before disappearing into nothingness.

"What the fuck was that?" Jesse asked as the room seemed to calm down a little.

"Mind your manners son." the man with the bible said as he closed the book and looked to Jesse. "This might be the end of the world but not civilized conversation."

"Who are you?" Faith asked as she narrowed her eyes. There was something off about him. Hell there was something off about his whole group.

"Here I am spoutin' off about manners." the man said with a smile and a heavy southern accent. "We come barging into your home and we didn't even introduce ourselves. I'm Father Caleb, this is Deacon Marcus Hamilton, and Sister Lissa." Caleb introduced his group. "We ran a mission in Gilroy before... all this happened."

"What ummm... what was that thing?" Jesse spoke up again. "That thing that you scared off."

"That there was the First Evil." Caleb told him. "That slippery voice that told Eve to betray man and told Cain to kill Abel."

The First Evil? Kendra thought to herself. She could have sworn that her old Watcher Mr. Zabuto told her about that when she was younger. If her mind wasn't clouded with so many other things she could remember. Instead her mind was filled with what the world was now. Frowning at the thought of that old man, she couldn't help but to think if he survived the apocalypse or not.

"So you mean that thing was the Devil?" Gunn asked as he eyed the three new people carefully. He didn't have to have mystical powers to know that something was off about them.

"Satan is a little man compared to that." Caleb replied with a frown. As Hamilton whispered into his ear, he suddenly smiled again. "I wanted to say that we're sorry for busting in on you folks and about your front door." Caleb said as he looked back and saw the door barely hanging off it's hinges. "We best be on our way."

"This isn't our home." Jesse spoke up, making the new people stop in their tracks and for his team to give him a look. "We have a compound not far from here with plenty of supplies. You guys can come with us if you want?"

"Ummm, yeah... you're welcome to come with us Father." Faith said as she shot Jesse an irritated glance, before looking to the preacher man and his cohorts. She'd have to talk to him about what to say and what not to say around people they'd just met.

"Much obliged." Caleb replied with a wolf like smile. "But just call me Caleb. I never was nobody's daddy."

* * *

"Did anybody else get the wiggins from those new people?" Buffy asked of the Council as Caleb, Lissa, and Hamilton walked out of the library. "Especially the Preacher man?"

"I don't know about the others but I was totally getting strange vibes off of that Lissa chick." Harmony spoke up. "I don't know what it is but something seems... not right about her."

"Is it possible that you're jealous of her having a better fashion sense then you?" Marcie teased.

With a playful huff, Harmony rolled her eyes. "Hey you try being fashionable during the zombie apocalypse."

"Maybe we're judging these new people a little too harshly." Wesley suggested. "I mean wouldn't all of us be on the edge if we were out there as long as they were?"

"All right." Buffy replied, making up her mind as her hand went to her stomach. It had been hurting pretty badly for the last couple of weeks and she'd put off seeing Lexie for too long. After the meeting she'd make an appointment with her. "We'll keep them here for now but if I sense something wrong that might endanger the community, they're out. Hey where's Faith and Kendra?"

Exercise Room

Faith ducked a rainbow kick from Kendra and came back up with a few rapid fire punches that her opponent easily blocked. What Kendra lacked in imagination in fighting, she more than made up for it in pure skill. Doing a spin, Faith reached her right leg out that sent Kendra to the floor. As if she didn't even fall at all Kendra seemed to bounce back to her feet, in less then a split second and continued her assault.

"This is just a sparing session, ain't it?" Fred asked of Jesse, as they both watched Faith and Kendra fighting. "Those two act like they want to rip each others heads off."

"Don't worry, my baby knows what she's doing." Jesse said with an easy smile. At least I hope so. He thought to himself.

From a stiff kick to the face, Faith fell roughly to the floor. Kendra had her now. As the mocha colored Slayer stood over her prey, Jesse suddenly stood between them.

"That ummm... that was a hell of a fight, but it's getting kind of late." Jesse said with a smile, before reaching down to help Faith stand up. Looking at his hand for a moment, Faith took it and stood to her feet. "Come on babe, I'll treat you to a Twinkie." As he said that, he led his girlfriend out of the room, leaving Fred and a woozy Faith behind. Getting a certain distance away from the room and hopefully far enough that the other Slayer wouldn't hear him, Jesse turned to his girl. "What the hell was that about? You could have killed her."

"Dat's as close as an honorable death as she'd get." Kendra replied as she kept walking. Grabbing her arm, Jesse spun her around and his eyes widened as he looked into Kendra's. She was in full Slayer/ kill mode.

"Kendra... I..."

"I trained me whole life to defend dis planet from evil and I only lived for a year after becoming the Slayer." Kendra cut him off. "I knew my time would be short but why would my successor be her?" she stopped as she pointed back at the room they had just walked out of. "She's a... a street girl... a murderous convict. She even tried to kill Buffy. Why does Buffy trust her?"

Jesse wanted to point out that she herself had tried to kill Buffy once but he kept his mouth shut on that fact. Choosing instead to put his hand on her cheek, he pulled her close. "Look Kendra, a lot of bad stuff has happened..."

"Dat's an understatement." Kendra muttered. Looking back up at her boyfriend, she saw that he was serious and she decided to stop talking.

"Like I said a lot of bad stuff has happened to all of us." He went on. "Who knows what happened in Faith's life that made her go the route she did in her life. None of that matters now because we're all in this survival game together. After all that's out there for us to face we have to act as one unit. Almost... almost like a family."

"So you want me to consider Faith as me sister?" Kendra asked, her temper finally coming down. To be honest she'd always wanted a family and better yet a sister. But Faith...

"Hey I never thought about it like that before." Jesse replied with a smile. "Buffy is the big sister and Faith is the baby of the family. That makes you the middle child but I always thought that the baby was supposed to be the bratty one because they always get their way." with that said he walked away.

Standing there for a second, Kendra just then registered the insult. "Hey!" she barked out as she followed up behind him.

Buffy and Gunn's House

Buffy woke up in the pale dawn light. She blinked trying to orient herself in this strange house. Feeling warmth by her side, she looked over and saw Gunn, sleeping in her arms. So peaceful, like a child. She just watched him, before her hand went down to her stomach. For so many weeks she'd been feeling sick, only to now find out that she was pregnant.

She didn't know how to break it to Gunn or the others about her condition or for the fact that she was seriously considering abortion. That wasn't something that she was considering lightly, but how could one bring a child into a world like this one. Deciding not to think about it for now, she laid back down on the bed, just as Gunn reached out and pulled her into his safe embrace.

Caleb's Room

"You've been really putting away those communion wafers." Lissa commented as Caleb paced around with a handful of them.

"Believe you me, it's the only thing stopping me from snapping your neck gurl." Caleb replied as he eyed her with a smile. "Sweets was kind enough to make me a batch of this stuff to keep my anger at bay."

"I'm glad you have your Prozac but even I'm getting a little anxious." Hamilton spoke up. "When is this plan supposed to start?"

"It already has." Cordelia/First said as she appeared in the room. It was the senior and final member of the Court of Owls but since it couldn't take physical form let D'Hoffryn be the quote unquote leader of the group. Such titles were meaningless anyway. "You being able to walk around in this place is proof positive of that. Now all you three have to do is integrate into this community. It's going to take some time but the ritual has already started."

"Are there going to be sacrifices?" Lissa asked curiously with a smile.

"Honey when I'm done you can sacrifice as many people as you want."

"Hallelujah to that." Caleb replied with a smile of his own. He knew the first person he wanted to sacrifice when the time came.


	34. Chapter 33 Only Death Follows

Chapter 33

Only Death Follows

Several Months Later

Everything seemed to be working out fine after the new editions of Lissa, Caleb, and Hamilton entered into the community. Everyone was noticeably wary of them at first but they turned out to be some all right people. As a joke Dawn suggested that the new city name be New Sunnydale. After the people of the city heard about it they all voted and that became Warrenville's new name.

It took some time but Buffy made her decision not to abort her children, especially after talking it over with Dr. Carver. She had told Gunn that he was going to be a father to twins and he immediately decided that they should be married. He didn't want to bring his children into the world being bastards. That's why they asked Father Caleb to marry them and as a twist Kendra and Jesse had also gotten married and they had a double wedding. Wesley was Gunn's best man, Dawn was Buffy's maid of honor, Sarah was the flower girl, and it took some doing and a lot of talk but Gunn had managed to convince Buffy to let Hank walk Kendra and Buffy down the aisle. Riley was Jesse's best man and Kendra made sure that Faith was her maid of honor, saying that sisters are supposed to stick together. It was hell getting Faith into a dress but she still wore one.

So as it stood now, Buffy was now Buffy Anne Gunn and Kendra was Kendra McNally. The world wasn't perfect but the group still found beauty in it. Maybe just maybe Caleb wasn't that bad after all.

New Sunnydale Church

A girl, Betty, was looking for someone here, taking uncertain steps, peering into the shadows. She's seventeen or so, curvy in a way a rural-type sun dress can't hide - you might call her voluptuous or even over-ripe. With a gasp, she took a step back, startled as Caleb stepped out of the shadows.

"You're searching for something, girl." Caleb said with a easy smile. "What would that be now?"

"Oh." Betty started shyly. "You. I was looking for you."

"That right?" Caleb asked as he took a step forward. "I remember you. You were the one that showed me and my friends our rooms when we first arrived here. Betty ain't it?"

"Yes... that's right." Betty replied, happy that he had remembered her. "I heard you speaking tonight. Preaching. I felt your words going straight to me."

"The truth is like a sword, isn't it, girl?" he asked. "Cuts deep."

"Yeah." Betty agreed as she moved in closer to him, but not touching him, trying some seduction, a little clumsy, but ready. "I got warm. The words made me feel that way. I got warm. It was your words made me feel that way. All that power you was talking about. The temple coming down, and the end of days." she stopped for a moment as if to think of something to say. "Your words are strong, Preacher."

"You liked 'em." As he stated that, she nodded, still shy but confidence building. "Words I use got a power to 'em. Power, now. They're not just "words. They're Truth."

"They brought me here."

"They called you." Caleb replied in understanding.

With a nod she spoke again. "Felt like."

"And so you followed." Caleb went on, his smile deepening like that of a wolf. "Know why?"

"Tell me, Preacher." Betty begged as she put her hands on her own belly, breathed deep, taking in his words.

"Because you're human. You got your urges. A woman's got hers, a man's got his. Our whole race can be so damnably weak. It's why we seek the strength. That Power."

"It's not wrong to be drawn to the Power?" Betty asked as she gave him a look. "Is it, Preacher?"

"No, child. Not wrong." Caleb replied as he watched her step up against a wall, into the deepest shadows.

Putting his hands behind his back, he followed her in. After a few seconds, she screamed and her body fell down into the light. She was bleeding profusely and laid on the floor, gutted. With a smile on his face, Caleb stepped out into the light and looked down at her body, before regarding the bloody knife in his hand.

After hearing a voice, he slunk away into the darkness just as Sarah and Hope walked into the room and discovered the girls dead body, the latter letting out a blood curdling scream.

Town Square

Later That Day

Buffy stood up and held onto her stomach, as she tried to quiet down the large mob of people before her. Taking Riley's gun out of his hands, Gunn started to shoot into the ground, making the city dwellers immediately quiet down. Nodding her thanks, Buffy turned and watched as a man walked up onto the stage.

"Those monsters outside of these walls almost took everything from me." the man started as he turned and looked to what was left of his family, his son and his wife. "But in here we felt safe, for the first time since the end of the world. Since you people have been here I can tell that you've done all that you could to help make this place better. I can't speak for everybody here but I thank you for that. But what I want to know... what we all need to know is what are you going to do about the human monster that's in here?"

As he asked that question the community started murmuring again. Letting them quiet down on their own this time, Fred cleared her throat to speak but Buffy nodded, letting her know that she'd talk for her. "Listen... everybody has a right to be afraid. Hell I'm a little scared right now." she whispered the last part out. "But believe me we're on it." as she said that, Buffy looked to Harmony and Kate. Catching the Slayers gesture they walked off to gather some clues.

"Mrs. Gunn." Caleb started as he walked up to her, a sad look written on his face. "It's time for the funeral. I hate that this happened to that girl but she must be laid to rest."

"Okay." Buffy replied not meeting his gaze. Seventeen was just too young to die. Trust and believe that Buffy knew all too well of that.

"I've been talking to your little sis and little Hope." Caleb went on. "You know... about what they saw and all. I done all I can and I prayed for them but they really need to talk to you. Since you're the boss lady around here and they practically worship you, they need to know that everything is safe."

"Thank you, Caleb." Buffy replied with a grunt of protest as she held onto her stomach and tried to stand up from her chair. Extending a hand, Father Caleb helped her to her feet. "Thank you for everything."

"Just doin' the Lord's work." Caleb replied with a nod as he started to walk off. "I'll get going to get the funeral started."

New Sunnydale Church

Crime Scene

Yellow tape lined the room as Harmony stared, transfixed on a large puddle of blood on the floor. Such delicious, coppery tasting blood.

"Hey Harmony." Kate said from behind her, making the vampiress jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's ummmm... it's ok." Harmony replied with a smile. "So what do you got boss lady? Any leads on who done it?"

"No." Kate replied, letting out a sigh. "I talked to the girls and they didn't see anything. I didn't find any finger prints, and Andrew doesn't have any cameras set up around here. I hate to say it but this might end up being a cold case."

With a frown, Harmony started to sniff the air.

Kate had wanted to make a Lassie joke, but decided against it because this was too serious of a situation. "What is it?"

"I smell cologne." Harmony realized. "Somebody was wearing too much of it but I smell it."

"Do you know who it belongs too?"

"I only know two people who wear it." Harmony told her sadly as she turned to look at her.

New Sunnydale Grave site

Later That Day

"Ashes to ashes... dust to dust... this is a sad occasion that someone so young and full of life had to die but at least Betty is in a better place now." As Caleb started to give the eulogy amongst all those who were gathered around the casket, Sarah walked over and held onto her big sister's hand. Smiling down at her, Buffy gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Sarah let me know if this is too much for you." Hank said as he stood behind them. "Then I can take you home."

"But... I want to stay with Buffy." Sarah said happily as she looked up to her big sis.

"Oh... okay that's fine... I... I mean just as long as Buffy doesn't mind." Hank stammered.

"I'll never mind." Buffy replied as she looked up and saw her husband and Dawn walking over to her. "Well?"

"Kate said that she has two possible leads for... who ever did that to Betty." Gunn said changing what he was going to say since Sarah was standing there.

"And you're not going to like who she thinks are the suspects." Dawn added.

"Who does she think..."

"Either Father Caleb or Wesley." Gunn cut her off.

Looking over to where Caleb was preaching, Buffy shook her head. He was the very man who married Gunn and herself and he looked genuinely sad for the communities loss. Looking around she didn't see Wesley anywhere. She was going to say that the ex-Watcher was incapable of such a thing but lately he'd been acting odd and would always sneak away by himself or sometimes taking her baby sister with him. She never thought anything about it but now...

"Sarah when you and Uncle Wes go out on your little.. adventures... he... he never tried to touch you or anything did he?" Buffy asked, swallowing a lump that formed in her throat. She hated to have to ask the hard questions but Wesley could have easily become a sociopath now and she needed to know if he could possibly even hurt her sister. "You... you know... down there?"

"No." Sarah replied with a frown. "Uncle Wes and Aunt Cor would never hurt me."

"Aunt Cor?" Dawn asked. "Who is that?"

"Oh... Aunt Cor is beautiful." Sarah replied suddenly perking up. "She has short brown hair and she always has on a white dress."

"We don't know anybody named Cor." Buffy told her.

"That's just because me and Uncle Wes are the only one's that can see her." Sarah said as everybody looked at each other. "I... I can't say her real name but she told me to call her Cor. Uncle Wes calls her Cordy sometimes."

"Cordelia." Gunn mumbled to himself as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Sarah is this Aunt... Cor?" he asked as he pulled out a photograph. It was a picture that was taken of Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, Fred, and himself shortly after Fred was freed from Lorne's dimension.

"Yeah... oh my God isn't she pretty?" Sarah asked as they all looked at each other again. What the hell was going on?

"I'll get Kate to ... keep an eye on Wes for awhile." Gunn spoke up. "And I'll get Harmony to watch after Caleb just in case."

"Good." Buffy replied with a frown, that quickly turned into a smile as she looked at her little sister. "Hey let's go and get something to eat and then we can go home. Come on Dawn."

"I'll stop by and get something to eat in a little bit." Dawn told her. "I have to do a shift in the watch tower in a couple of hours."

Caleb's Apartment

A little later

As Caleb walked into his apartment, he saw Lissa and Hamilton sitting in the living room. Both of them with frowns on their faces.

"What's with the long faces?" Caleb asked.

"Long faces?" Lissa snapped as she got into his face. "You just killed that girl."

"Aw, now, look." Caleb said in a huff. "Things don't go exactly your way, so here come the waterworks." This guy got a special kind of HATE from her. "Ain't that just like a woman?"

"No wonder why he's acting more like his old self." Hamilton spoke up as he picked up a box of communion wafers. "This box is empty."

"None of that matters now." The First/Cordelia said as she materialized in the room. "I'm going to need Caleb to be in rare form. The plan starts in a few hours."

"Good." Caleb said as he turned to leave.

"Where the hell are you going?" Lissa asked as he kept going towards the door.

"I don't know about you but after a good night of killn' folk, I like to go for a walk."

New Sunnydale Church

Knowing full well that he was being followed, Caleb ducked down a corner. Watching as the tiny blond started to walk pass where he was hidden, he reached his foot out and tripped her.

With a frown Harmony stood, pissed off. Ready to kill. And also... afraid as she sensed real power radiating off of Caleb now. "What the hell are you doing here? You returning back to the scene of your crime?"

"Now, now, little girl. Manners." Caleb replied with a smile. "Though I do imagine that firebrand tongue of yours has inflamed many a man. Weak as they are." As he spoke he moved toward her. Real casual. Looking around. "This here's a... church after all, ain't it? Kinda deserted." he said with a shrug. "Only just, I suppose. Folks work so hard at keeping the Lord out, and look what happens in return. God abandons you. Not that He could do much good now, anyway."

As Harmony slowly, stealthily reached for a weapon, Caleb's smile deepened. "Ah, ah. I wouldn't were I you, swee' pea. Fightin' back ain't gonna do you much good." He grinned, moving closer to her. "And how is little Hope?" Caleb asked. "Let her know she's in my prayers."

"You come near her and I'll kill you." Harmony replied with a sneer.

Caleb suddenly, violently shoved a pew, tipping it on its side and out of the way. Nothing between them now. "Mind your manners." he said threateningly as his attitude shifted. "I believe I did warn you once." With that he walked toward her. Closing in. "You're angry. Frustrated. Scared." he stopped as he thought about what he just said. "I like that in a girl." He's right in her face now. Leaning in. Taunting her. "You oughta just relax a little. Look at where you are - history is gonna look back at you, at me... at this place. And they're gonna see the glory. Great things are happening now. Right here. This church, it's all part of the great, sweeping tide of change. And you're gonna be a part of it. Now why would you wanna miss that? And, more importantly..." His grin faded, he has now become deadly serious. Threatening. "Why would you wanna get in its way?"

Harmony was pressed up against the wall now, nowhere to go. She leans in, too. And smiled as Angel spoke into her mind. "Just ornery, I guess." And with that she vamped out and punched Caleb hard in the face.

He recoiled and backed up as Harmony swung a leg around to kick him in the chest. Before she could connect, he grabbed her foot, pushing her to the ground. With a smile he stood over her: "I knew you'd be a wild one. A vampire with a soul." She kicked at his ankles, but he simply stepped aside, before grabbing her and dragging her up till she's off the ground, eye-to-eye with him. "I'm gonna find such sweet pleasure in taming you."

With that said he tossed her clean through the window, where she slammed against the opposite wall in the hallway outside, putting a huge hole in it , before crumpling to the floor. Half conscious.

"See you soon, little lady." Caleb said over his shoulder as he exited the room, striding down the hallway, leaving her there.

"Ka... Kate." Harmony whispered into her walkie talkie, blood dribbling out of the corner of her mouth. "It's... it's not Wesley. The killer is Father... Father Caleb." her warning given, Harmony finally passed out.


	35. Chapter 34 Blood on the Leaves

A benign, yet ambitious wind surged through the trees. The air smelled sweet and cool. A storm is coming; a hurricane; a wet earthquake; a flying tidal wave. There are now blood on the leaves and the wet stench of death.

Chapter 34

Blood on the Leaves

Buffy and Gunn's House

A tear formed in Buffy's right eye as she watched Gunn and Dawn finish putting together the baby crib. Faith had found it for them a few days ago on one of their supply runs. It felt wonderful to finally have a husband, a house, and a true family. It was just weird finally finding it during the zombie apocalypse.

"God, we're finally done." Dawn exclaimed as she wiped at her forehead.

"It took like twenty minutes." Gunn replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Well that's a long time to me." Dawn told him as she crossed her hands over her chest, before looking down at her watch. "It's time for me to go to work. See you later bro."

"Bro?" Gunn asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well you are my big brother now." Dawn replied with a smile as she walked towards the door, before having a thought. "Hey, did you two think of any names for the babies yet?"

"No, now go to work." Buffy said as she shoo'ed Dawn out of the room. As she turned around, she saw her husband still standing by the crib looking dazed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing... it's just... it feels good having a little sister again." Gunn told her with a sad smile.

"I couldn't imagine my life without Dawn." Buffy replied with a smile of her own as she reached up and touched his face. "Even though she bugs the hell out of me... I..." Not wanting to indulge in that thought, she shook her head and looked at the crib, before discussing their children's futures.

Watch Tower

Eddie smiled as he pulled away from kissing Kate. He didn't think he'd ever find love again but here he was kissing a beautiful intelligent woman. A woman that was also turning out to be a good mother figure for his children and if things kept up at this rate, she was going to be his wife.

Out of the blue, Kate cracked a smile and started laughing. "What's up?" Eddie asked with a bemused smile.

"Oh nothing." Kate replied, thinking of long ago when her dad thought that she was a lesbian.

"Hey, so what did you turn up about Wesley?" Eddie asked, interrupting her thoughts. Right now, Fred and the others were watching him "Do you think he did it?"

Before she could answer, her walkie talkie started to crackle to life. All she could hear was her name and the name Caleb, before it filled with nothing but blaring static. The voice she heard was unmistakable though. "Harmony!" Kate barked into her walkie. "Harmony!" not getting an answer she looked to Eddie and saw the cold fear in his eyes. Leaning over the table to give him one final kiss before running out of the room.

Trying to push down the feeling of dread that formed in the pit of his stomach, Eddie turned and look out of the window of the Watch Tower. After a few minutes, he heard the door to the room open.

"Dawn you're early aren't you?" he asked before turning around. Not getting an answer, he turned and saw Lissa giving him a wicked smile. "Ummm... what are you..." Before he could complete his sentence she was on him.

Sending out a sidekick, Lissa watched as it connected with the side of Eddie's head, knocking him out and onto the floor. With a smile, she started to work the controls and opened up the front gate. Taking a small crystal out of her back pocket, she laid it down on a desk and started to do a little magick that counteracted the protection spell that was put in place by Amy to protect the community. Looking out towards the gate, she watched as the sky and the very atmosphere turned dark red and angry. Suddenly a portal opened and monsters of all shapes, colors, and sizes started to come out of it.

"Hey Eddie, I'm sorry I'm la..." those words died in Dawn's mouth as she walked into the room and saw Eddie on the floor and Lissa standing over him with glowing yellow eyes. "What the..." pulling out her glock, Dawn started to fire at Lissa but the demon dodged and wheeved the bullets before finally jumping out of the window. Making sure that Eddie was indeed okay, Dawn looked out of the window and her eyes widened at all of the demons she saw coming out of a portal. With shaky hands she reached for her walkie talkie. "Ri... Riley!"

New Sunnydale Church

It took some time but Kate finally remembered the last location Harmony reported to her from when she was following Caleb earlier. Entering the church, she saw broken glass and several items overturned. Hearing a groan, she looked to the floor and saw Harmony slowly regaining consciousness.

"What the hell happened?" Kate asked as she ran over and helped the ditzy blonde to her feet.

"Father Caleb happened." Harmony replied with a wince as she brought her hand up to her sore head.

"Caleb... I..."

"He's the one that... that killed Betty." Harmony cut her off. "Like you told me before... a criminal always comes back to the scene of the crime. I followed him here and well... he beat me up."

"He beat you up?" Kate asked with wide eyes. "But you're a vam..."

"That guy is a monster." Harmony cut her off. Before she could add on to that, they both heard a huge explosion followed by screaming and gunfire. "What in the world was that?"

"I don't know." Kate replied as she pulled out her gun. "But let's go and find out."

New Sunnydale Gym

Fred, Hope, Andrew, and Wesley sat on the bleachers watching Faith and Kendra sparing as Jesse sat next to them carrying some bottles of water. Passing them out, he too looked at the two women sparing.

"What you thinking about?" Fred asked of Wesley as he stared intently at the women before him.

"About the killer in our community." Wesley answered after a few moments. "After all we've seen out there, I can't believe that someone in here can kill someone else in cold blood."

As he said that Fred and the others gave each other a look because he was a prime suspect. Before anybody could say anything a titanic boom sounded off, nearly taking Faith and Kendra off of their feet. Collecting themselves they didn't even have time to question what just happened as the doors to the room opened and Father Caleb and Hamilton strode in.

"Hey H!" Faith yelled out as she walked over to Hamilton and Caleb. "What the hell just happened out there?"

"The same thing that's going to happen in here." Hamilton replied with a with like smile.

"Chaos." Caleb finished for him as he reared back his fist and punched Faith in the face so hard that she sailed across the room, slammed against a wall and was knocked unconscious. The whole room fell into a stunned silence and it was Kendra who finally snapped out of her stupor and ordered Andrew to take Hope out of the room.

Running the length of the room, she went for a punch to Caleb's head, only for him to side step it and fight back. Pulling out a gun, Jesse shot Hamilton in the chest two times. Looking down at the flattened bullets on his chest, Hamilton smiled before running up the bleachers and grabbing Jesse by the throat and choking him. Trying to help, Fred jumped on Hamilton's back and in one smooth move he threw her off and into Wesley, knocking them both off of the bleachers and sending them spilling out to the floor.

"Now where was I?" Hamilton asked with a smile as he turned back to Jesse. With fear in his eyes, Jesse could do nothing as Hamilton took his hand and then broke his arm.

Hearing the sickening crack of broken bone and the sound of her husband cry out in anguish was enough to make Kendra turn around. "Jesse!" as she shouted out his name, Caleb took advantage and punched her hard in the face, knocking her unconscious.

As he was about to reach down and finish her off, Hamilton stopped him. "We don't have time for this."

"But this little harlot..."

"Is not important now." Hamilton told him. "The Slayer is."

With a snarl, Caleb stood back and watched as Hamilton picked up Faith, before both of them ran out of the room. Through his haze Wesley looked up and saw Cordelia standing over him.

"Wh... why?" Wesley simply asked. "I... I thought that I..."

"Was important?" Cordelia asked. "All I needed you to do was bring the Slayer here and to keep everyone else in one place. Your usefulness to me is over." as Wesley blinked, the First then turned into Buffy. "Be seeing you Wes." and with that she was gone and Wesley joined the others in oblivion.

* * *

As Kate and Harmony made it outside they saw Riley and New Sunnydale's army going head to head with what seemed to be dozens of zombies and demons. Pulling up her gun, she started to fire into a crowd of demons that had managed to push through the armies line and was headed their way.

Hearing a growl, she looked back and saw that Harmony had vamped out and had jumped into the fray. Firing until her gun ran dry, she reloaded and her eyebrows went up as she heard a twig snapping, deadly close to her.

Looking up she saw children. Five of them in total. All long since dead and watching her silently. As her eyes roamed their tiny grey skeletal bodies, she assumed that they died of exposure and hunger. A hunger that would now never be quenched as long as they now lived in their undead state.

Their grey and blackened eyes now roamed over her body in return as they still stood there silently. As the cold wind whipped through their hair, Kate could do nothing but cry, knowing that her life was over, as she closed her eyes and thanked God that she at least found love in this life. As the children now registered movement from her warm body, they ran forward and attacked her from all sides with their sharp teeth.

Like a pack of small piranha, blood flew up into the air as Kate was taken off of her feet. With a no and screaming her final scream, the petite woman gave up her fight. Hearing the noise of flesh being ripped into, Harmony took her eyes off of the hordes of zombies around her and saw her friend take her last breath. As blood splattered on the leaves, it gave her extra motivation to fight harder.

* * *

Buffy and Gunn swiftly walked outside and bumped into Eddie and Dawn.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked as Dawn struggled to catch her breath. Eddie was leaning on her heavily and she had to half carry him out of the watch tower.

"It's... Lissa." Dawn stammered out. "She's... she's a demon. She opened up some kind of portal and demons... Buffy my God there are so many demons."

"So that's Riley and the others trying to stop them." Gunn figured. "We need to go and help them." Before he could suggest that Buffy should sit this one out, Eddie started to frantically move around.

"Hope!" Eddie suddenly cried out. "I gotta find Hope and Angel."

"You should worry more about yourself." a familiar voice said behind them. Turning, they saw that it was Lissa with a sadistic smirk on her beautiful face. Before Dawn could lift up her gun, Lissa snapped out a powerful side kick, that hit Eddie in the chest and sent him stumbling to the ground and falling on top of Dawn.

As Gunn brought up his ax, he took a powerful swing, intent on cleaving Lissa in two, only for the crafty demon to side step his attack and send a knee to his gut. Tapping into her demonic strength, she put her hands together and popped him in the back, sending him with a thud to the ground.

Seeing that only Buffy was left, Lissa slowly strode up to her. "You have no idea how much I need you." Lissa started as she smiled before looking down to the ground, her long locks covering the expression on her face. "How much I need you to die!" looking up her eyes had now turned yellow.

"You wanna kill me then you better make your time count."

Running forward Lissa sent out a kick that Buffy blocked. As they exchanged a series of punches, Buffy had almost forgotten that she was pregnant. Reaching down to touch her stomach, Lissa took her by surprise and punched her hard, snapping her neck back and knocking her to the ground. Before the demoness could go in for the kill, she got shot in the back. Turning she saw that it was Dawn, that had shot at her from the ground. With a literal growl, she ran off to where Hamilton and Caleb were waiting for her.

"Buffy!?" Dawn called out as Eddie got off of her and she stood to her feet. Running over to her downed form, Dawn saw Gunn standing over her, his mouth agape. Seeing what he was looking at, she saw a large piece of wood sticking out of Buffy's chest and a pool of blood under her.

* * *

Riley stared at the army of the dead as he changed the clip out of his gun. He and his crew of men and women were running dangerously low on ammo and they didn't know how much longer they could hold on. As he aimed his gun at his next would be attacker, the sky suddenly turned dark.

Looking up, he saw that it wasn't going to rain, even though he heard crackles of lightning. Suddenly the zombie herd stopped in their tracks as surges of energy started to crackle through their bodies. Feeling someone near him, he looked around and saw Marcie, Gwen, and Amy standing together in the distance the latter two having their hands outstretched.

The human and demon zombies started to burn from the inside and with a snap of her finger, Gwen made them burn up in place and turn into blackened husks. Seeing a few stragglers left, Amy either used her magick to destroy them or Marcie ran forward and stabbed them in the head with her sai's.

Thanking God for their arrival, Riley's smile suddenly turned into a frown as he saw an unreadable look on Amy's face. Reaching out with her telepathic abilities, Amy found many disturbing things, including Kate's death but something else stood out more then that. "Buffy!" Amy cried out, suddenly at a loss for words.

A/N Come on guys please review. That's the only way I'll know if you like the story or not.


	36. Chapter 35 No More Room In Hell

A/N Happy New Years guys.

Chapter 35

No More Room In Hell

New Sunnydale Hospital

With wide eyes Kendra stared at the room that she knew Buffy was in. She'd never told Buffy or the others but ever since the two had found each other again she felt some kind of connection with the other Slayer. A connection that she felt was slipping away. Before she could walk into the room and see about her, Dr. Lexie Carver came out with a grim look on her face.

"How is she?" Kendra asked as tears already started to pool in her eyes.

Ignoring Kendra, Lexie looked to Jesse who was standing behind her cradling his broken arm. Fighting through his own pain, he still had a worried look on his face out of concern for his friend. "Come on, I need to reset your arm and get it into a cast."

"I said how is she?" Kendra asked in irritation. As the doctor spun around with tears in her own eyes, Kendra already knew the answer. "And the babies?" Seeing Lexie lower her head in sadness, made Kendra's heart drop. Steeling her nerve, she walked past Lexie and into the room.

When Jesse tried to do the same, Lexie just grabbed his good hand and shook her head. Leading him to another room, she went about patching up his arm.

* * *

Walking into the room, Kendra saw Hank Summers, Dawn, and Gunn standing around a hospital bed. Breathing a sigh of relief, she saw that Dawn was holding onto two babies. A boy and a girl. She thought for a second that Lexie was only saddened because the children would grow up without a mother but she knew what the underlying concern was. It was for the reason that Kendra had failed to protect Buffy and the community.

Kendra had sworn a sacred oath to be as Buffy's right hand and to protect her and by extension her children. She had failed to deliver on that promise. She had failed the community and Buffy's children and now those poor babies had to walk through life without a mother. Trying to shake those thoughts out of her head, she didn't let the others see that she was in the room as she looked past them and to Buffy.

Buffy laid on her hospital bed sweaty, ghostly pale, and feverish as the machines she was hooked up to went crazy. It was so ironic that she had fought master vampires and hell Goddess' but was taken down by her weapon of choice. A piece of wood. A piece of wood that punctured one of her lungs and damaged several arteries. Taking a few steps back, Kendra watched as the scene before her played out.

* * *

Looking past her father and the others Buffy saw Jonathan with a smile on his face and his hand outstretched. In that moment she knew that it was okay. She knew that it was okay to die. Suddenly a gentle, warm, familiar hand touched her on her forehead. Glancing up, her heart started to pound a little faster as Joyce started to smile at her.

"It's okay, Buffy." Joyce told her as her smile widened. "It's peaceful here. You can finally put your arms down and stop fighting."

As she said that, Buffy started to cry even harder. Ever since becoming the Slayer, that's all she ever wanted to do. But what about...

"Don't worry about your sisters, Gunn, or my Grand children." Joyce said reading her thoughts. "Someone else was chosen to watch over them." she said as she turned and looked to Kendra.

"It's all right Buffy." Giles said as he appeared in the room. "It's time to go on a new journey. A new adventure."

"It's better where we are." Willow added. "There's no more pain. No suffering. No..."

"Vampires or demons." Xander told her with a smile. "There's nothing but warmth and love Buff. Isn't that what we always fought for?"

"Just take my hand Buffy." Jonathan said as he walked past the others. "You don't have to struggle anymore."

With one final feverish look to her living family, Buffy gave a gurgled apology to her father, Gunn, and her sister. Looking past them, she met Kendra's eyes and gave her a plea to always protect them. Using the last of her strength, Buffy raised her hand and took Jonathan's. With a smile, Buffy Anne Gunn took her final breath.

"Buffy!" Dawn yelled out, with tears streaming down her cheeks as the babies started to cry. "I'm sorry." she whispered to the little bundles as she gently started to rock them. Taking the boy out of Dawn's arms, Gunn started to gently rock his son.

With shaky hands and tears in his own eyes, Hank moved forward and closed Buffy's eyes. Not only did he not have enough time to say goodbye but he never reconciled with her. He never got a chance to show that he was truly sorry for leaving her and it saddened him that he would never get a chance to hold his oldest girl in his arms again. With all the courage in the world, the older man turned to Gunn and saw that the young man was caught up in emotion himself. The black youth had just found love and a new family in a dying world and had just had part of it ripped away from him. It took awhile for the room to calm down from the out pouring of emotion and Hank watched as Dawn held onto Gunn for support. He'd need it in the time to come.

"Did... did Buffy even have enough time to name them?" Hank asked spoiling the moment. Seeing the blank stare in Gunn's eyes told him all he needed to know.

Blinking her tears away, Dawn started to look around the room until her eyes became fixated on some beautiful purple flowers that were by Buffy's bed side. What ever they were, she remembered that they were her older sister's favorite. "Ken... Kendra." Dawn said finding her voice. She didn't even have to turn around to know that the other woman was in the room. "Do you know the name of those flowers? They were Buffy's favorite."

"Dey are... dey are called Jasmine." Kendra replied nervously as she stepped forward. Meeting Dawn's gaze, she knew that the younger woman didn't hold any hate or ill will towards her. She knew then that all of those feelings were just in her head and that she was having them because of guilt.

"You hear that baby?" Dawn asked, as she looked down at her niece. "That's going to be your name. Jasmine. Jasmine... Alonna Gunn." with a smile Dawn watched as Jasmine smiled. Looking up, she saw that Gunn was still trying to collect himself. Putting her hand on his arm to calm him, Dawn then put her hand on her nephews forehead. She had wanted to call him Angel but they already had a baby named that and plus she didn't want to make Gunn angry by calling his child by Buffy's first loves name. Then she tried to think of what Angel's real name was. It was Liam right? What was the formal English name for it. "And your name will be William. William Jonathan Gunn."

"Those are some beautiful names honey." Hank said as he pulled Dawn close. She was his oldest now.

"Yeah... yeah they are." Gunn added, finally getting his shit together. "I think Buffy would've liked those names."

As he said that someone came into the room and gasped. Looking back they saw that it was Samantha Finn. "Oh God." she said softly as she saw Buffy's still form in bed. Buffy was just too pale and she knew that she was gone.

"Sam... what..." Riley stopped talking as he walked into the room and saw what his wife had just seen. It took him a minute to take in that Kendra was standing in front of him.

"Report." Kendra said flatly.

"Over... over thirty six of our people were killed." Riley reported as he finally took his eyes off of Buffy. "Kate was one of them."

"I... I see." Kendra replied sadly.

"It get's worse." Samantha added. "The Slayer's scythe is missing and... so is Faith. From what Amy told us a portal was opened in the square and she believes that Faith was taken through it."

"So she isn't dead." Kendra whispered to herself as she turned around and bit her lip. "But why would Lissa and de others take her and the scythe?"

"We also found this in Caleb's room." Riley said as he reached into his backpack and handed Kendra an all white mask. Flipping it over, the mocha colored Slayer's eyes widened as she dropped the mask through nerveless fingers as she saw a engraving of a owl inside of it. "What's wrong?"

"I... I... know who took Faith." Kendra replied as she swallowed hard. "I don't know de exact members but I've heard of dese people before. They're called de Court of Owls. I... I remember an old nursery rhyme dat Mr. Zabuto told me as a child. Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling the world from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed. Speak not a whispered word about dem, or they'll send the Talon for your head."

"But why would they take Faith?" Gunn asked.

"I don't know." Kendra told them all.

Place Unknown

Faith sat up off of a hard, cold floor in a darkened room. With a wince, she held the back of her head. "Bitch." she said simply as she stood to her feet and looked around.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she got her bearings and started to walk through a dark hallway into a chamber. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of a raging fire in a doorway. With her Slayer hearing, she could hear a man being beaten on the other side. Not liking the sound of that, she leaped through the fire to the chamber on the other side.

Entering into the room, she saw a kneeling man being beaten by robed men with sticks. Barking at them to step back, they all looked up at her and she saw that they had no eyes. Doing as they were ordered, the Bringers stepped back into the darkness of the room. Making sure none of them would try to attack her, Faith pulled the beaten man to his feet, took off the bag over his head, and looked into the bloodied face of a man she had never seen before.

"Thank you... thank you." the man cried out. Suddenly a pair of hands reached out of the darkness and snapped the poor man's neck like a twig.

"Whoa." Faith said with wide eyes as she watched the man's lifeless body hit the floor. With a smile on his face Hamilton stepped into the little light that the room provided and regarded Faith.

"That was really a shame that I had to kill him." Hamilton said sincerely. A sincerity that didn't reach his eyes. "I knew Drogyn for centuries. He was like a brother to me."

"I'd hate to be a part of your fucking family." Faith replied as she glanced down at the dead man before getting into a defensive position. "Come on... I think I got enough strength to whoop your ass backwards." she said as Hamilton smiled at her.

"Calm down Faith." Buffy/First said as it stepped out of the shadows. "Nobody here wants to hurt you. At least not yet."

"Buffy?" Faith asked with wide eyes. "You're... you're one of the bad guys?"

"Stupid girl." Caleb said as he, Drusilla, Lissa, and Sweet walked into the room. "I don't reckon I approve of her appearance but that ain't your little blond haired friend. That there little lady is the First Evil."

"Thanks for the introduction Caleb." Buffy/First said with a sudden frown. "I think."

"What the fuck is going on here?" Faith demanded to know as she looked around at them all.

"Manners girl." Caleb said as he dropped his smile. "I'll only warn you once."

"It's not wise to curse in front of Caleb dearie." Drusilla spoke up with a crazed smile. "It makes him so frightfully angry."

"Well, I don't give a fuck!" Faith yelled back. "Now I asked where the fuck are we?"

Before Caleb could move forward, to do bodily harm to Faith, a demonic hand was suddenly placed on his shoulder. Turning, Caleb calmed down a little as he saw that it was D'Hoffryn.

"Please calm yourself Father Caleb." D'Hoffryn said as his inky black eyes became fixated on Faith. "She's our guest. At least... for a little bit. As far as where you are that's a simple question to answer Miss Lehane. You're in what's known as the Deeper Well. Behold." as he extended his hand, it was then that Faith noticed that they were standing on a they looked over to see what the bridge spanned, they saw an endless pit lined with thousands of coffins.

"You have no idea what you're looking at do you?" Buffy/First asked. Not expecting a response anyway, it continued. "This is a place of legend. A place that your precious Watcher's told you about."

"I must've went to sleep when they were telling that story." Faith replied as if she were bored.

"You stupid harlot."

"Father Caleb!" D'Hoffryn shouted, making the other man step back. "Now Miss Lehane you must know of the Old Ones? They are the ones that your people drove into those coffins centuries ago."

As he said the name the Old Ones, Faith's mind whirled a mile a minute as she thought back to a dream she had of the Master right before the apocalypse happened. It was also then that she realized why they needed her. She'd seen enough horror movies and read enough comics and books to know that they needed to use her as a sacrifice.

Seeing the look of realization in her eyes, Buffy/First smiled at her. "So you know why you're here?" Not waiting for her to answer she continued. "You know what's funny? People go on and on about Buffy being the true Slayer but it's you Faith. The true Slayer line has been passed down to you and that's what we need to unleash certain Old Ones to fulfill a prophecy. A prophecy that I set forward eons ago. We just needed a true Slayer's blood and the scythe to unlock certain Sarcophagi. The only reason Buffy kept her powers in the first place was because the Powers That Be still needed to use her. A lot of good that did her in the end."

"Buffy is..."

"Yes Faith... Buffy is dead." Buffy/First said with an even wider smile. "But don't worry. Soon you're going to join her. It'll take another day to complete the incantations so enjoy what little time you have left."

"In the meantime, let's dance." Sweet said as he took Faith's hand. Looking down at herself, Faith saw that she was now dressed in a tight red form-fitting dress. As the demon started to whirl her around on the bridge and then back in the chamber, Faith saw the dizzied faces of her captors and she remembered what Buffy had confided in her. It was when she had been beaten to death by Brock Lesnar and met her friend Jonathan. He had told Buffy that they were already in hell and had to find a way out.

Morning

The Next Day

Town Square

There was a storm brewing behind Kendra's eyes as she stared off into the nothingness of the day as people gathered around and said their last goodbyes to Buffy and the others that had fallen. Ignoring all of the people crying, she continued staring up into the sky, even as someone came to her and grabbed her hand. Already knowing her husbands touch, she just gently squeezed his hand.

"I know this is an especially bad time to say this but we just got done interrogating Wesley." Jesse started. "He... he confessed to helping the First. He didn't know what it really was or what it was leading him to really do but he's begging us for forgiveness."

"Tell him, he has it." Kendra replied as she finally met his gaze. Looking around, she saw that Eddie, Samantha, Riley, Amy, Marcie, and Harmony gathered around her. They were looking to her to lead them now.

"He has it!?" Eddie asked angrily. "Even after all that his lies have done. He... he got Kate... my woman killed. It was because of his lies that Buffy and the others were kil..."

"De First is very manipulative." Kendra said firmly, cutting him off. "It could easily have been one of us."

"But..."

"Let me finish." Kendra cut him off again angrily, but still not quite raising her voice. "We will give Wesley another chance but dats it. If he betrays us again..." she trailed off as she said that but it was clear what she was saying. If Wesley betrayed them again they wouldn't banish him. He would have to die.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Harmony asked. "Besides stand around like a bunch of shmucks."

"We're going to find Faith." Kendra told them. "Amy, I need you to do a locator spell and see if you can reopen the portal she was taken into."

"Okay... I... I can do that." Amy replied as she walked away.

"Riley, I need you to let de people of this town know that everyting will be fine." Kendra said as she turned to the resident soldier. "Then I'd like for you to gather some weapons and be ready with them in three hours."

"Kendra what the hell are you doing!?" Jesse asked as he whirled her around with his good hand. "You don't even know where the hell we're going."

"I do know where we're going." she replied as she looked past him and down the hill they were standing on and saw Dawn, Gunn, and Hank putting the last bits of dirt on Buffy's body. "We're going into darkness." as she said that the whole group gave each other a look


	37. Chapter 36 A Slayer's Roar

Chapter 36

A Slayer's Roar

New Sunnydale

Amy's Room

The pendant that Amy was using to do a locator spell to find Faith fell flat on her map. Letting out a sigh, the young witch looked back at Kendra and shook her head.

"I'm sorry." Amy started as she got off of the floor and stood to her feet. "I've tried locating Faith three times. Either she's shrouded by powerful magick or she's dea..."

"I don't tink that she's dead." Kendra cut her off. "We just have to..."

"A...Amy come quick!" Dawn shouted as she rushed into the room, startling the two older women.

"What on Earth is..."

"It's Sarah." Dawn cut her off frantically. "There's... there's something wrong with her and she's calling for you."

Giving each other a look, Kendra and Amy followed Dawn into Sarah's room and they saw Hank and Lexie standing over the little girl. Walking past them, Amy's gasped as she saw that the little girls eyes had turned a milky white.

"It's about time you showed up." Sarah told her in a voice not of her own.

"Who are you?" Amy asked with a frown. She didn't sense evil coming from whatever had possessed Sarah but it was quite the opposite.

"It doesn't matter who or what it is." Hank interrupted. "Just get it out of my baby."

"Take it easy Mr. Summers." Sarah replied as she looked from him back to Amy. "I'm a friend."

"Well what do you want... friend?" Amy asked with narrowed eyes.

"I came here to tell you how to find Faith." Sarah answered as she opened her hand and a spell with Latin wording was suddenly scribbled on a piece of paper.

"Why should I trust you?" Amy asked even as she took the paper.

With a smile from ear to ear, Sarah telepathically reached out to Amy making the witch's eyes widen. Just as Amy thought she couldn't take in any more information, from the many whispered voices she was hearing, the connection was cut and Sarah fell back on her bed.

"Sarah!" Hank yelled as he and Lexie ran forward and checked on the little girl.

"Are you okay?" Kendra asked of Amy as she saw the witch put her hand up to her head. "Who was..."

"That was Cordelia." Amy told her. "The real Cordelia. She told me what they have planned for Faith and we gotta get her out of there now."

"What about Sarah?" Lexie asked of Amy as she turned to look at her. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"She'll be more then okay." Amy whispered as she looked to the girls sleeping form. And after a lot of training from me she'll be a hell of a witch.

Gunn's House

Later That Day

"What do you know about de Court of Owls?" Kendra asked of Wesley as she circled around the dining room table where Marcie, Fred, Amy, Samantha, Gwen, Jesse, Harmony, Riley, Eddie, and Gunn sat. It was sad that they didn't even have time to grieve their loss of friends and family.

"I... I don't no more then what you all know." Wesley replied as he looked around the table. So many angry faces were looking back at him. "As I told you before I wasn't a part of the First's group. I... I didn't know what was happening."

"Oh this is complete bullshit!" Eddie yelled out in frustration. "I don't give a fuck what you say. You have blood on your hands man. You have the blood of Kate, Buffy, and every..."

"Dat's enough!" Kendra shouted as she slapped her hand on the table, silencing Eddie. Seeing that everyone was still giving Wesley looks, especially Gunn, she continued. "What do we know?"

"Well... that Lissa chick, Hammie, and the preacher man seemed too dumb to be the most powerful members of those Owl people." Harmony spoke up as everyone turned to look at her. "They had to be the enforcers."

"That's actually a good deduction." Jesse said with a nod of his head. "Especially coming from you."

"Thanks." Harmony beamed as it took her a few moments to register the slight insult. "Hey!"

"So if they aren't the most powerful members then who is?" Marcie asked as she looked around the table.

"All we know of is de First, Hamilton, Lissa, and Caleb." Kendra started. "Anybody else dat gets in our way that's not Faith, we kill. Amy how long will it take you to get dat portal opened?"

"Once I get the ingredients I need... maybe fifteen minutes." the young witch answered.

"Good." Kendra said seriously as she looked around the room. "I need to be honest. Whoever I choose to go with me... we... we might not make it back. So...I need you to be sure. I don't know what to expect when we get where we're going but I'm talking about killing every... single... member of de Court of Owls. I don't know what the consequences of dat is and I can't ask any of you to give up your lives, but I can't do this alone."

One by one everyone in the room started to raise their hands. As Gunn started to tell her about wanting to go, Kendra told him that normally she would need that kind of anger to push through what evils they would face but she needed someone to stay behind to be the new leader just in case they didn't make it back. Plus he was needed to stay behind to be a father to William and Jasmine. She pretty much said the same of Eddie and she needed Riley to stay behind just in case the Court of Owls decided to attack again. Making her final decision, she chose to take Amy, Marcie, Harmony, and Samantha with her.

As everyone started to leave the meeting, Kendra pulled Gunn and Riley to the side. "We need Wesley to reopen de portal on dis side since he knows the basic parts of magick." Kendra started as her eyes suddenly darkened. "But if he indeed is working with de Court of Owls and he double crosses us... kill him."

The Deeper Well

As the portal closed behind her, Kendra looked around and mentally cursed as she didn't see her friends behind her. That was one thing that Amy told her that might happen. She said that there was a big possibility that when the portal opened that they would all exit in different parts of where ever this was.

Hearing a woman giggle, she quickly took out Mr. Pointy and scanned the area. With wide eyes she watched as her killer, Drusilla, walked out of the shadows.

"I saw you in one of my dreams dear." Drusilla said with a sudden smile. "How nice it'll be to kill you again. Tell my daddy I said 'ello when you go night night."

With that said she bid Kendra come hither with her waving fingers. With a snarl Kendra faced Drusilla, ready to fight. Drusilla walked around her with another smile and goaded her on. Pressing an attack Kendra kicked at her, but Drusilla blocked her easily, as well as two follow-up swings. Taking an opening she punched Kendra and sent her spinning to the floor.

Watching the Slayer flip back to her feet, Drusilla ducked a kick from Kendra and grabbed her by the arms. She swung her around and shoved her away, but Kendra came back at her again with a kick to the gut, making Drusilla double over for an instant. Kendra then lunged at her, but Drusilla grabbed her by the throat and forced her back against a wall, gripping hard and choking her.

"Look at me, Dearie." Drusilla said as she waved two extended fingers before Kendra's eyes and began to hypnotize her. "Be... in my eyes again. Be... in me."

With that said she let go, and Kendra was completely under her spell. She swayed back and forth a bit, and Kendra followed the vampiress' every move to stay in contact with her eyes. Drusilla backed away slightly, lowering her arms and never losing eye contact, before extending out the fingers of her right hand at her side. She smiled evilly as she swung her hand up only for Kendra to grab her arm.

"Dat's the ting about a trick." Kendra said as she threw the vampiress arm back. "Dey only work once." Using Mr. Pointy, she rammed it into Drusilla's un-beating heart. With a scream, Drusilla crumbled into dust, as Kendra stood up and walked through her floating ashes. She had to find Faith.

As she turned a corner, Kendra saw the decomposing figure of a one handed man laying on the ground. Looking the scene over, she saw a modified chainsaw, a double barreled shotgun, and a backpack laying on the ground around him. She was about to walk off until she felt compelled by something in the backpack. Opening it, she saw an ancient book that seemed to have a demonic looking face on it and was bound by human flesh. Putting on the backpack, Kendra placed some of her weapons and Necronomicon ex Mortis into it. For good measure she took the double barreled shotgun and continued walking forward, saying a silent prayer for the fallen warrior.

* * *

Harmony spat out a glob of blood as Caleb punched her across the cavern, making her roll down on the ground. She still clutched onto the Slayer's scythe for dear life, having found it in another cavern. She had to stay alive. She had promised Hope earlier that day that she would make it back in one piece so they could have a tea party. Seeing an opening, she ran for it, only for the psychotic preacher to get in her way.

"Ha ha ha ha! You're not slipping out of this fight, girl." Caleb said with a smile. After a lengthy battle there still wasn't a scratch on him. "Can't you see? You can't stop me. I can just keep going back for more. It's like being reborn."

Angered for the fact that she was giving this fight all that she had, Harmony swung the scythe at Caleb's head, but he ducked and threw her against the wall. Using the strength that the First had given him, he kicked her into the air and punched her in the stomach before she fell to the ground in agony. Pressing the advantage, he kicked her in the head and grabbed the scythe, but using demonic speed, Harmony kicked it out of his hands and into the air. Holding up her hand she plucked the scythe out of the air and kicked Caleb to the floor. Having enough, she went to stab him with the stake-end of the scythe, but he stopped her from plunging it into his chest. With a laugh Caleb pushed Harmony away, taking the scythe away from her and throwing it to the ground as he walked toward her. Standing over her, he started to punch her repeatedly until she fell to the floor.

"You know, I gave you ample warning." Caleb started almost sounding conversational. "Told you not to interfere, but you chose not to heed."

Frustrated, Harmony charged toward Caleb, but he deflected her and threw her onto a sarcophagus. As he came close, she kicked him in the chest. Unfazed, he picked her up by the lapels and swung her body into a stone pillar so hard that it moved one of the stones out of place. With a grunt, Harmony fell to the ground, as Caleb picked up the scythe.

"I was kind of hoping it'd go this way." Caleb said as he reared back with the scythe. " But by the blood and the glory you made a hell of a punching bag."

The blood. Harmony thought to herself. Taking a deep breath, it was as if time slowed down as Caleb took a swing with the scythe. Ducking under the attack, Harmony jumped on Caleb's back, vamped out and started biting him painfully in the jugular. Harmony drank from him, holding on tenaciously as Caleb struggled to get free. With a growl of protest, Caleb dropped the scythe and was finally able to pull Harmony's head away from his neck, and he threw her across the cavern again, but this time she controlled her motion, managing to rotate in the air and land on her feet.

"Wow... I... I've never felt more alive." Harmony said as she wiped a small amount of blood off of her cheek.

"You're... you're dead you stupid harlot." Caleb replied angrily as he touched at his neck. "And in a few seconds you'll be deader then that."

Caleb threw another punch at Harmony, but she caught his arm and punched him in the ribs. Caleb then swung with his free arm, hitting Harmony in the face, but doing a ballerina's spin, she returned the favor, punching him right back in the jaw.

As Caleb came forward and grabbed her, she broke free of his grip and punched him repeatedly in the chest and stomach. Stumbling backwards, Caleb was caught off guard as Harmony sweep-kicked him in the ankles, bringing the crazed preacher to the floor. As he struggled to get up, Harmony mounted him.

"It's funny that the last thing you see before going to hell is going to be a stupid Harlot!" Harmony shouted out as she started punching Caleb in the face again, and again. Finally, putting all of her demonic strength into one punch, Harmony hit Caleb in the face so hard that it broke his neck. Letting him go, Caleb fell to the ground with a final grunt. Letting out a sigh and panting Harmony stood over Caleb in triumph.

For good measure she picked up the scythe and cut off Caleb's head before running off to find the others. As she ducked down a corridor, she could have sworn she could pick up Kendra's scent.

* * *

As Sweet made Faith dance, he had to be careful not to make her combust into ashes. It had been so long since he was able to dance with someone like this and he just didn't want their fun to end so soon. Smelling power radiating from somewhere, he suddenly stopped his dance with Faith, in the middle of dipping her, and looked up to see Amy floating into the room, her eyes white.

"Now won't this be interesting." Sweet said as he let Faith up, so she could see who had come into the room.

"Damn, Glinda it's about time you came." Faith said with a dramatic roll of her eyes. "You had me worried."

"You shouldn't be." Amy replied as opened her hand and telepathically made Sweet let go of the Slayer. For good measure, she also pushed Faith back several feet.

"I admit you're powerful sweet thang." Sweet said as he jerked his hand out of the realms of Amy's magick. "But just not powerful enough." extending his other hand, he used his own power to make Amy land on the ground and start dancing to some kind of rock ballad.

With a laugh, Sweet twirled around and sat on a throne like chair and watched as Amy and Faith danced along with the music he had provided. To add along with the effect, he brought along three of his minions, that resembled living, human-sized, ventriloquist dolls that wore suits, to dance with them. As Amy's body started to smoke, she was suddenly stopped by an invisible force.

"What is this now?" Sweet asked of himself as Amy stopped her twirl of death. Before he could think much else, something started to tear through his minions, turning them into ash as they hit the cold rocked floor. As he was about to stand to his feet, sai's were suddenly embedded on either side of his demonic head, making him scream bloody murder.

"That was easy." Marcie said with a smile as she materialized and took her deadly weapons out of the demons head. Stepping down off of the podium, she wiped off her sai's before walking towards them. Seeing a scared look in their eyes, she looked back to see that Sweet was standing to his feet, his wounds healing. "Okay not so easy."

"You bet your sweet ass it ain't sugar." Sweet replied with a smile as all three of them were caught in his thrall. "Now it's time to dance until you die."

Taking the lead, Faith and the others started to dance the dance of death. As their swaying bodies started to sweat, they all heard a scream and looked up to a cavern above them. Making sure that Faith and the others continued to dance, Sweet looked up himself and saw Kendra with hell in her eyes.

Jumping down the senior Slayer used the scythe to slow her descent. Sparks shot up from the rock face and the scythe as she finally reached the ground in a crouch. Standing to her feet, Kendra raised the scythe up high over her head as she ran forward to end the demon's life. With a simple wave of his hand, Sweet put Kendra under his thrall as well.

"So much for the calvary." Faith mumbled to herself, as Harmony suddenly jumped on the demon's back. As Sweet struggled with her, Kendra shook off the power that was holding her, before twirling her scythe around.

"I know I came from Jamaica." Kendra started as she stabbed Sweet in the chest with the stake end of her weapon, prompting Harmony to step away as the demon screamed. "But I never could find the rhythm." With that said she lobbed off his head making Sweet crumble into dust like a vampire. Breathing heavily, Kendra turned around and regarded her sister Slayer. "Are you all right?"

"I'm doing more then all right." Faith said as she cracked her neck and touched her arm. They had taken a little of her blood earlier and her arm was still stinging. "I think I found my true calling. I'm gonna be a stripper."

She's fine. Kendra thought to herself with a roll of her eyes. "It seems as if we arrived before the ritual started. Let's find Samantha and get out of..." before she could complete her sentence, they all heard someone clapping.

Looking up as one, the gang saw D'Hoffryn, Hamilton, Lissa, and the First walk into the room.

"Very good miss Young." D'Hoffryn said as he stopped clapping. "Oh forgive me, I should call you Mrs. McNally now."

"What are you applauding her for?" Harmony asked as she looked to where D'Hoffryn was standing. "For kicking your minions asses?"

"Actually yes." the dark eyed demon replied making the gang give each other a look in surprise. "Father Caleb, Drusilla, and Sweet were some powerful members of the Talon and the Court respectively and you've managed to kill all three of them. If we weren't about to go into this new world order, I'd ask you to join us."

"I'd rather die!" Kendra yelled to him defiantly.

"So be it." Lyndsay said as he and his blind companion, Vanessa, strode into the room.

"Mother fucker." Faith mumbled under her breath as she stared daggers at the ex lawyer.

"Just remember one thing though ladies." Lyndsay continued speaking. "You all are locked in here with us and the Old Ones. But don't worry... we'll make your death's quick."

"You got it wrong, fucker!" Faith shouted over to him. "We're not locked in here with you... you're locked in here with us!"

"I like your spunk and tenacity." D'Hoffryn honestly admitted. "Too bad you all have to die. Mr. Hamilton, Lissa, Vanessa, and Mr. McDonald, would you please dispose of them. Please leave the Slayer alive."

"I thought you'd never ask." Hamilton said with a smile as he and the others started to surround them.


	38. Chapter 37 What Lurks In The Dark

Chapter 37

What Lurks In The Dark

"I'm going to kill dat demon dat killed Buffy." Kendra declared to the others, before turning to look at them and grabbing her sister Slayer's arm. "Faith you stay with Amy. Everybody else, kill anything dat moves."

"Naw, I got this." Faith said as she let Kendra go and looked to Vanessa, even as Bringers started to fill the room. "I owe that bitch an ass whoopin'."

"Alright." Kendra said through narrowed eyes as she threw her backpack and shotgun at the young witch's feet. "Amy stay here and be careful. Let's do dis!" she shouted as the others ran forward. Being drawn to Kendra's backpack, Amy, made sure the coast was clear before she opened it and pulled out the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.

* * *

Vanessa threw Faith to the floor then ignored her to kick Marcie in the stomach. Getting a second wind, Faith got back up and went behind her, only for the blind woman to stab behind herself catching Faith in the chest with her cane.

Faith blocked some of her hits then got thrown against the wall again. This time when she landed Faith stayed perfectly still, watching her. Confused Vanessa scanned the room, but was apparently unable to see her.

Gotcha bitch. Faith thought to herself as she jumped to her feet, once Vanessa's back was turned.

Hearing movement Vanessa looked over at her but all she saw was a bright shape disappear from her vision as Faith froze again. Figuring that it might be the Slayer, Vanessa made some stabbing and cutting motions in her general direction, but didn't even connect. Suddenly her vision exploded into bright color as Faith dropped her with a hard face punch.

By the time Vanessa rolled back up to her feet, Faith had frozen in place again, making the blind woman look for her in vain. There was a bright flash in Vanessa's vision as Faith moved to her side, then froze again, her fist cocked ready to strike.

Faith then kept repeating the same maneuver several times more. In the end Vanessa was right in front of her. As she got ready to take a stab in Faith's direction, she grabbed Vanessa's cane and diverted it into her own body then let her drop to the ground.

Standing over her unconscious form, Faith knew that she could and should end Vanessa's life. Seeing Finch's lifeless body in her minds eye, her hand shook a bit. Knowing that she still couldn't do what needed to be done, she faded into the crowd of Bringers and joined her friends in the fight.

* * *

Marcie went invisible after killing the Bringers around her and ran towards Lyndsay. Attempting to bring down her weapons to kill him, he suddenly grabbed her by the throat, in a death grip, and pulled her close.

"So you couldn't even complete one little task?" Lyndsay asked as his eyes glowed red, prompting her to return to the land of the visible.

"A little thing called the apocalypse happened." Marcie replied through gasps of air. "And in case you haven't noticed, I reformed."

"So by your own admission you quit on the job?" Lyndsay asked with a smile. "I hope you don't think you're still going to get paid?"

"I'm... I'm glad you kept your sense of humor, counselor."

"I'm much more then a lawyer now. I'm judge, jury, and..." he paused for a moment as he squeezed her throat a little harder. "Executioner."

As Marcie's life started to flash before her eyes, she decided that she didn't like most of what she saw. Using the little bit of life she had left, she tried to reach down and grab her sai's. Falling out of her hands with nerveless fingers, she was about to accept death until she heard the rat a tat tat of a gun.

Being dropped to the floor, her lungs almost exploded as she gulped in as much air as possible. Seeing Lyndsay double over in pain, his body riddled with bullets, Marcie scooped up her sai's and rammed both of them through his heart instantly killing him. Looking up to her savior, she saw Samantha, crouched down on a level above her. Giving each other a nod, Samantha threw a grenade into the crowd of villains and watched as the explosion blew Hamilton off the bridge and down the Deeper Well, before bringing out her gun and tearing through the Bringers.

* * *

"This fight isn't going as well as I hoped." D'Hoffryn said to the First as he looked down at the scene before him. "What do you think we should do?"

"Awaken one of the Old One's." Buffy/First said with a smile. "Since the Slayers are here, I think it's only fitting to bring forth the one that started it all for them."

Taking the vial of blood that they had collected from Faith earlier, D'Hoffryn and Buffy/First floated to where the first demonic vampire's sarcophagus was. As D'Hoffryn smeared Faith's blood on it, The First started it's incantation.

"We awaken you from your slumber Maloker." Buffy/First started. "Come forth and rule the night once more."

As the jewel in the sarcophagus started to turn, unlocking the horrible demon inside, D'Hoffryn suddenly had a thought. "Won't he need some form of host?"

Giving him a winning smile, Buffy/First watched as Maloker's demon essence shot out of the sarcophagus and went inside of a screaming D'Hoffryn.

* * *

Kendra cracked her knuckles as she stared over at her adversary, who was smiling. Angered at her opponents demeanor, she ran forward and tried to punch her in the face, surprised as Lissa caught her fist. It seemed that she wasn't the only one to be gifted with power.

As Kendra leaned in with her punch, putting her full power into it, she was again surprised to see Lissa taking it, even going as far as to push her back.

"You're not the only one with power bitch." Lissa said with glowing eyes and a smile at Kendra's surprised look. "The First gave me some of it's own."

Before Kendra could retort, both women heard the sound of wings flapping. Looking up they saw something huge flying towards them.

"I think that's for you." Lissa said with another smile as she let go of Kendra's hand and slipped into the darkness of the cave.

"What... the fuck is that?" Faith asked as she walked up behind Kendra, the others having killed off the rest of the Bringers and joining them.

"He's the reason vampires exist." Amy replied as she looked through the Necronomicon ex mortis. "He's the reason you two and Buffy never got to live a normal life."

"Maloker." Kendra mumbled to herself as the ancient demon finally landed.

He had a bat-like appearance, with pointed ears and loose, wing-like folds of skin connecting to his arms and body. He had sharp fangs and claws, a crest-like protrusion on the back of his head, and charcoal gray fur covering most of his body. He also towered over them at eight feet tall, only shrinking down to six feet to accommodate the small area he had landed in. Taking in his surroundings, he let his bat like wings fall onto his chest, where they disappeared into his body.

Sniffing the air, Maloker's eyes narrowed as he looked between Kendra and Faith. "Slayers!" he grumbled out as he slowly started to move forward.

"Now that the introduction is over... what the fuck are we going to do?" Faith asked. Before anybody could say anything, Maloker suddenly appeared beside her. "What the..." Blam... he slapped her so hard she flew to the other side of the cavern where she fell unconscious.

The attack happened so fast, that Kendra didn't even have enough time to fully turn around as he hit her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Wheezing and a little dazed, Kendra crawled away to crouch beside a boulder. She looked at the vampires version of God and then got up to fight with it. She kicked, he ducked. She punched, he blocked. Taking the advantage he punched her in the face, then in the stomach, making Kendra fall to the ground face first. Quickly scooping her up, he tried to choke her, but she spat blood in his face, startling him, and giving her enough time to escape his clutches. Deciding to get this thing away from the others, Kendra ran away. Maloker licked the blood off of his face, smiled, and headed after Kendra.

"Come on guys we need to go and help her." Marcie said as she watched Maloker give chase to Kendra.

"We will." Samantha replied. "Let's just get Faith and..."

"You guys should really worry about yourselves." Buffy/First said as it appeared before them. Pointing behind them, they saw that Harmony's eyes were bleeding and she was in the middle of vamping out.

"She must be under Maloker's thrall." Amy whispered as Harmony ran towards them.

* * *

Kendra wasn't making a fast flight since she was limping. Not knowing what else to do she could only go deeper into the cavern, which was getting darker and darker. Taking a deep breath, to pick up her scent, Maloker had followed her to the building and was looking for her. Coming out of the darkness, she surprised it by coming from behind it and smacking it in the head with a large rock, but she didn't even manage to knock him down. They fought and he wrestled the pipe from her hand when she swung it at him again. Crushing it into dust they returned to martial arts.

He punched her and as she bent over at the waist, he kicked her in the chest, sending her crashing into a wall. He came at her again, and she dropped to the ground to avoid his fist. She stood, and he punched and kicked her, finally causing her to double over in pain as he punched her in the ribs. He punched her in the head, sending her to the ground again. As he picked her up, he backhanded her in the face, then punched her so hard, she flew 25 feet across the room.

Going in for the kill, he ran toward her, but she looked around and noticed a pulley hoisting a pallet of metal beams. It seemed that the First was planning on renovating the cavern with structural supports. Perhaps it was planning on staying in the Deeper Well for the long hall. Ignoring that fact, Kendra kicked a control lever for the pulley, sending the beams crashing on top of Maloker as he came towards her. Still lying on the ground, Kendra hid her face as the pipes landed, with a loud sound. Thinking that she had bought herself a little time, she got up and ran away slowly, still limping, but stopped and turned around as she heard movement. Her eyes widened as she saw the vampire king rising from the pile of metal beams, unhurt. He leapt out of the rubble and sprinted after her with incredible speed.

In no time at all, he had caught up to her, grabbing her from behind and throwing her into a wall. She stepped back, still standing, as Maloker literally crawled up the wall to gain momentum and height to kick her in the face, knocking Kendra to the ground. Before she could move an inch, he kicked her in the head again before grabbing her arm and throwing Kendra through a concrete block wall, that was created as part of a support for the room. The wall crumbled down on top of her, the whole thing caving in, and there was blackness.

"Pathetic." Maloker said as he paced around. His cold blood rushing through his body, from the brief fight. The First Slayer Sineya had put up a better fight and had even defeated him in battle. But this Slayer. She was so weak that it made him wonder why the demons of today hadn't taken over this world by now. Perhaps they were just weak as well. Using a sort of demonic x-ray vision, he looked through the rubble and saw a red outline of Kendra's body and saw that her heart beat was slowing. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Faith and the others entering the room. He stared at the witch for a moment, as Amy used telekinesis to hold onto the vampire with a soul. Placing his attention back on Faith, he suddenly smiled. "Perhaps you'll put up a better challenge." he said as he ran towards her.

* * *

Kendra laid on the ground, breathing shallowly and her eye sight going in and out. Through glazed over eyes she saw someone standing over her, speaking. Focusing her eyes and concentrating on listening, she saw that it was Buffy.

"Kendra... Kendra can you hear me?" Buffy asked worriedly.

"Bu...Buffy?" Kendra asked, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her. "But you're..."

"Dead. Yeah I know." Buffy said with a small smile that quickly faded at the thought of how serious this was. "It's not your time yet Kendra. Now get up!"

"I...I can't." Kendra replied weakly with tears in her eyes.

Looking up, Buffy saw that Maloker was attacking Faith and knowing how weak the other girl was, Buffy knew that Faith and the others wouldn't make it. Glancing back down at Kendra, who was barely clinging on to life, she knew that there was only one way this could end.

"One more time." Buffy whispered as she put her hand on Kendra's chest and disappeared.

Eyes snapping open, Kendra used mystical power to throw the rubble off of herself. Hearing the noise, Faith and Maloker stopped fighting and looked back at her. Red light surrounded Kendra then entered her body through her nostrils. Growling, visible power surged through her body as the ground shook under her feet and her eyes turned white.

"Ah... a true challenge." Maloker said as he turned his back to Faith and started to walk towards Kendra. He sensed new power coming from her and it made his cold blood run even faster.

"Hey Ken...!" Faith yelled out as she threw the Slayer scythe on the ground before her.

"I don't need it." Kendra replied with a combination of her and Buffy's voice.

"Ah... arrogance." Maloker said with another smile. "Many have fallen to me because of that trait."

"And then there was me." Kendra replied with a smile of her own as she got into a fighting stance.

With a growl Maloker came for Kendra. She was able to hold her own against it for a moment, but soon she was being beaten back. The onlookers grimaced as Maloker dealt harsh blows to Kendra. Still, she managed to get in an offensive move here and there, punching and kicking the demon between its own moves.

Pressing an advantage the vampire king punched Kendra to the ground, but she got back up to fight more. It threw her about 20 feet away, and she landed on the ground, knocking a sai out of Marcie's hands. Picking up the weapon, she aimed it at Maloker as it ran toward her, hitting it right in the heart. It only paused for a moment, then came at her again.

Deciding that maybe she needed the scythe anyway, she went into a roll and grabbed it before swinging it at Maloker, but it ducked and pushed her into a wall. As Kendra fell to the ground, he disarmed her before throwing her back toward the center of the open area. It punched her again and again, making her fall into a pile of rocks. Picking one up, she was about to throw it at the demon but it crushed it before she could throw it. It punched her again, and kicked her under a boulder before throwing her a dozen feet into the air, through a scaffold platform. Kendra managed to stay on the platform, and Maloker scaled the scaffolding to get to her. He then grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground and choking her as she struggled against him.

Reaching down, she grabbed Marcie's sai in the Old One's chest, pulled it out, and jabbed its eye. It roared and dropped Kendra. While it was dealing with its injury, Kendra started punching it, and kicked it to the ground, where it landed in a pile of rocks and wooden boards. Weakly, it tried to punch her back, but she kept punching and kicking it until finally she banged its head into the metal scaffolding. Kendra grabbed some nearby barbed wire and slipped it around Maloker's throat. It fell to it's knees, and Kendra pulled on it and nearly severed its head, before he used all the strength he could muster to push her nearly the length of the room.

"You were close, Slayer." Maloker mocked as his neck started to rapidly heal itself. "Oh so close."

Faith can you hear me? Kendra spoke telepathically to her sister Slayer and never taking her eyes off of the demon king.

"Yeah um..."

Speak to me in your mind. Kendra warned her.

B is that...

I'll explain later. Kendra cut her off. How do you feel about a quick game of hot potato?

With a smile, Faith fell in line behind Kendra as the older girl picked up the Slayer scythe. As the both of them took off in a dead run towards Maloker, Kendra threw the scythe in the air. Catching it, Faith swung the scythe and chopped off Maloker's head at the same time Kendra stabbed him in the heart with Mr. Pointy. With not so much as even a cry, the Old One exploded in a cloud of dust in front of them.

"Amy make sure that thing never comes back." Kendra told the witch.

Thumbing through the Necronomicon, Amy found the right passage. "Am sigiliu de tine pentru totdeauna Maloker." with that incantation given the ashes of Maloker floated in the air and went into the mouth of the Necronomicon.

"Is... is it over?" Harmony asked as her hand went up to her head. Her mind was finally clear.

"I don't know... is it... B?" Faith asked as she turned and looked to Kendra. Giving her a smile, Kendra's eyes turned back to normal and she passed out, Faith catching her before she hit the ground. "I guess that's a yes."

"Let's get the hell out of here." Samantha ordered.

"Not so fast. You think this is over?" Buffy/First asked as she materialized in front of them.

"Actually I do." Amy said defiantly. "I finally figured out how to defeat you."

"Oh?" Buffy/First asked with a smile. "Do tell."

"I admit that I can't kill you or zap you into another dimension, but there is one thing I can do." Amy replied with a smile that even made the First nervous. "I can take away the only form of influence you have in this world. Eu vă blestemă în această zi. Eu vă benzi de vocea ta, care este unica putere ai."

As the First tried to speak, from what seemed like a harmless spell, it found that no words would come out of it's mouth. Taking another form and then yet another it found that it could no longer speak at all or project it's thoughts into others. Giving Amy a look, the witch merely held up the Necronomicon ex Mortis, before opening up a portal and disappearing with her friends.

* * *

Kendra awoke to sunlight beaming down on her face and birds loudly chirping outside of her window. Becoming fully alert she saw that she was in her bedroom with Dr. Lexie Carver, Jesse, Faith, Marcie, Harmony, Gunn of whom was holding his children, and Dawn standing over her.

"It's about time you woke up." Faith said with fake irritation.

"What she meant to say was welcome back." Jesse spoke up as he leaned down and kissed his wife softly on the lips.

"How... how long was I out?" Kendra asked as she tried to sit up, only for Lexie to put a soft hand on her chest to make her lay back down.

"You've been unconscious for about twelve hours now." Lexie told her as she took her stethoscope out and started to listen to Kendra's heartbeat. It was strong. "You need to get some rest. How do you feel?"

"Like a bus hit me."

"Was... was that a joke?" Faith asked with a smile. "When Buffy possessed you, she must've left behind her sense of humor."

"What do you mean?" Kendra and Dawn asked at the same time.

"You mean you don't remember?" Faith asked. "You did the whole comic book white eyes thing and you started talking like B. We killed Maloker together and Amy and Wesley are in the other room right now looking at that funky book you found."

"Maloker..." Kendra whispered as she took a tentative step out of the bed. Letting her get up, Lexie moved out of the way and watched as Kendra went to Gunn and gently took Jasmine out of his hands. As the baby softly cooed in her arms, Kendra smiled down at her before looking out of the window and overlooking the city.

"We scrunched the Court of Owls, silenced the First and we stopped the Old Ones from coming back." Faith said thinking out loud about their accomplishments. "I could sleep for like a week yo."

"I guess we all could." Gunn said considering doing just that. But sitting around resting would only make all of them think about what they had lost and he just didn't want to think about any of that now. Looking over at his sister in law he saw that Dawn didn't want to think about any of those things either. Especially not Buffy.

"Yeah, we kicked evils ass but what are we going to do now?" Marcie asked.

"Hey she's right." Dawn spoke up. "What are we going to do now Kendra?"

As the others chattered around her, Kendra just stared straight ahead at the city now known as New Sunnydale. As she contemplated what's next, she smiled before her eyes narrowed. Seeing Buffy standing beside a tree, looking back at her, both women smiled at each other. With a tear falling from her eye, Kendra watched as Buffy went behind said tree and disappeared. Starting to remember a few things, she knew that Buffy had saved her life. Glancing down at Jasmine, she re-vowed that she would keep the other Slayer's children and family alive. She didn't know what was coming next but she would do whatever it took to fulfill her promise.

Under the Ruins of Sunnydale High

A Few Days Later

Lissa and Vanessa stood over the Seal of Danzalthar and smiled as the blood of the victim, they had just killed, poured on it. The First had come to them several days ago but couldn't speak. It merely imbued them both with it's power and lead them here. As the seal started to open, they watched as an ashen grey hand poked out of it.

End Season four.

Thanks for reading this story guys and girls but I've decided to end it here. Thanks to all of my faithful readers.


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